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The tasting line-up

The other weekend, we had the visit of John Szabo, Canada's first Master Sommelier and also co-owner of the Hungarian winery J and J Eger Wine Company. During his stay in San Francisco, he co-hosted a Hungarian wine tasting seminar with Matthew Stamp of the Guild of Sommeliers at Morton's Steakhouse.     The tasting featured 13 wines covering 6 major wine producing areas including Mátra, Szekszárd, Sopron, Eger, Villány, and last but not least, Tokaj.          Our first flight featured 2 whites from Mátra and 2 reds from Szekszárd. Mátra is a wine producing region located in the northeast part of the country, in the foothills of the Matra Mountains. Characterized by cold winters and volcanic soils, the area is noted for its white wines.     • Szõke Mátyás Királyleányka 2010: produced by Szõke Mátyás, one of Matra's most important family-owned wineries. Királyleányka means "little princess" and is a traditional variety of Transylvanian origin. Light golden color, attractive floral nose of acacia blossom. On the palate, crisp, slightly waxy with grapefruit flavors and mineral notes on the finish.     • Szõke Mátyás Irsai Oliver 2010: Irsai Oliver is a hybrid grape variety from the Muscat family. Intensely aromatic with rose petal aromas, dry and crisp palate with additional flowery notes on the finish.     Szekszárd is a wine district located in the southern part of Hungary and one of the oldest red wine-growing areas in the country. Although Kékfrankos is the region's most important red variety, its best-known grape is the thin-skinned and hard-to-grow Kadarka.     • Eszterbauer Kadarka Nagyapám 2009: produced by Eszterbauer, a winery that has been making wine in the region for 10 generations. Medium red color, fresh cherry nose, dry, spicy, with lively acidity on the palate. A good accompaniment to paprika-based Hungarian fish stew.     • Eszterbauer Tüke Bikavér 2008: Szekszárdi Bikavér or "Bull's Blood of Szekszárd" is the southern version of the famous Bull's Blood of Eger. Bikavér, like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is a blend of potentially 13 grape varieties. This wine has some Kékfrankos for the backbone blended with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc. Dark color, sweet berry aromas on the nose, full-bodied, good overall complexity.     

John Szabo getting ready for the tasting.

    Our second flight featured Kékfrankos wines from the Sopron and Eger regions. Kékfrankos, also called Blaufränkisch in German, is a dark skinned grape variety grown mostly in central and eastern Europe that can produce rich and spicy wines.     Sopron is situated on the Austrian border, at the foot of the Alps. With a climate characterized by cool summers and mild winters, it produces elegant reds mostly made of Kékfrankos.     • Pfneiszl Kékfrankos 2009: produced by the Pfneiszl estate, owned and managed by sisters Birgit and Katrin and currently transitioning to a completely organic winery. Medium red color, vibrant aromatic nose, aromas of dark berries, well-balanced, very tasty.     Eger is located in northern Hungary, on the southern slopes of the Bükk Mountains. The climate is characterized by late springs and hot summers. It is home to the popular Egri Bikavér (bulls blood of Eger), a red blend based on Kékfrankos.     • J&J Eger Winery Eged Hegy Kékfrankos 2006: produced by J and J Eger Wine Company, a partnership between John Szabo and Eger native, physician, and winemaker Dr. János Stumpf. Sourced from the dry farmed Eged-Hegy (Eged Hill) vineyard. Dark color, cassis aromas on the nose, full-bodied, good acidity, woody with some tannins. Serious wine but still young.     • J&J Eger Winery Eged Hegy Kékfrankos 2007: tighter than the 2006, concentrated, needs more time.          Our third flight took us to Villány, in Southern Hungary, not far from the Croatian border, where the climate is warmer with Mediterranean influences.     • Attila Gere Portugieser 2010: produced by winemaker and winery owner Attila Gere, whose family has been in the wine business for seven generations. Portugieser is an old grape variety that probably originated in the Danube Valley. It is usually vinified as a light, fruity wine. Medium red color, fruity, Beaujolais-like nose, light bodied, fresh, easy to drink.     • Attila Gere KOPAR 2007: Bordeaux-style blend of 52% Cabernet Franc, 46% Merlot, and only 2% Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Franc ripens more reliably than Cabernet Sauvignon in the region). Aged in large Hungarian oak casks. Spicy nose, sweet berry fruit on the palate, well balanced, good with grilled meat.          Our last flight was dedicated to the Tokaj wine region in northeastern Hungary, famous worldwide for its botrytized wines, although the production of dry Tokaj is growing. The climate is continental with dry, cold winters, late springs, and hot summers. The soil is of volcanic origin, with high concentrations of iron and lime. Furmint is the main grape variety. It covers about 60% of Tokaji's vineyards with Hárslevelü covering an additional 30%.     We first tasted two semi-dry Tokaj from Bott Pince, a small winery founded by Judit and József Bodó in March 2006. The Bodó family owns 1.5 ha of vines on a west facing terraced slope in the classed vineyard of Határi.     • Bott Határi Hárslevelü 2009: pale golden color, spicy nose with notes of honey, citrus and herbs, well balanced on the palate, mineral finish.     • Bott Csontos Furmint 2009: light golden color, fresh floral nose, flavors of honey, dried apricot, licorice, softer than the Határi on the palate.     We concluded the tasting with 2 sweet Tokaj from Patricius, a winery established by the Kékessy family in a rebuilt and modernized wine-press house previously owned by the Jesuits and various aristocratic families.     • Patricius Late Harvest Tokaj 2008: made from over-ripped and partly botrytised berries. Bright golden color, apricot, peach, kumquat aromas on the nose. On the palate, bright acidity, notes of honey and dried herbs, long finish.     • Patricius Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2000: deep amber color, intense nose, flavors of bitter orange marmalade and rock candy, very sweet finish.     

The Blue Danube team Rachel, Eric, and Frank with John Szabo and David Fenyvesi, from Eger.

As we leave our outdoor grill to gather dust and cobwebs and start dressing our house for Halloween, it is time to cozy up with harvest reds, says Patrick Comiskey, a senior contributor for Wine & Spirits Magazine, in his latest article for the Los Angeles Times.     Harvest reds are wines that taste like early fall, warm without being too bold, fruity with savory flavors that evoke wood smoke, fallen leaves, and wild mushrooms. But where to find them?     “Lately there is no better place to start than the lap of Europe, which on my map is Austria and Hungary”, says Comiskey. “Both countries are enjoying a resurgence among their red wines; each has an interesting collection of oddly named indigenous (or nearly so) varieties that are being revived.”     In Hungary, he adds, “your options are more limited but potentially more exciting. Importers such as Blue Danube are bringing small-production wines into the market, like the Soproni Kekfrankos made by Pfneiszl (about $15). Kekfrankos is Blaufränkisch, a bit more gripping and rustic than Austrian versions. Hungary is also the continent's last great repository of Kadarka, a thin-skinned red variety thought to have originated in Romania, with a clean and peppery red-berry flavor, worth chilling for a stew. Look for the Kadarka from Eszterbauer, a 10th-generation producer who also makes a very drinkable Bikaver (Bull's Blood) blend (both around $20).”     So for Halloween, try the Eszterbauer Tüke Bikavér 2008 from Szekszard wine region in Hungary's Transdanubian hills. It is spicy and deep, yet easy to drink, but beware, this bull's blood may attract some vampires!     Read Comiskey's article here.

2009 Bott Határi Hárslevelű

It was close to dinner time and I had just opened a bottle of 2009 Bott Határi Hárslevelű. As I swirled the wine in the glass, catching the wine's fragrant aromas, I realized that it was screaming for South Asian spices, rich spices like turmeric, clove, ginger, coriander, nutmeg, cumin.     The Bott Határi Hárslevelű is a dry white wine from Tokaj, home to Tokaji Aszú, the world's oldest botrytized wine, although Tokaj is increasingly well-known for its distinctive dry wines.     It is produced by Bott Pince, a small winery founded by Judit and József Bodó in March 2006. Bott is Judit's maiden name and she is the one crafting the wines while her husband focuses on the vineyard. The majority of the region's vineyards are planted with Furmint but Hárslevelű is Judit Bodó's favorite varietal as she explained in a recent New York Times interview: “Sometimes the furmint is too harsh,” she said, “too 'gerade' in German, too 'straight' and harslevelu has more play. It's more layered, it has more nose, it has more nuance.”     The Bodó family has 1.5 ha of vines on a west facing terraced slope in the classed vineyard of Határi. The soil is volcanic rocks mixed with clay. limestone, and chalk. Challenging growing conditions and an average vine age of 40 years result in low yields in the vineyard. The wine fermented in 220 liter barrels for 6 weeks using native yeast and remained in barrel for 9 more months.     That night, my dinner plan was to sauté some shrimps with garlic but after sniffing the wine, I decided to cook them with a Southeast Asian twist. Fortunately, between the pantry and the refrigerator, I had all the ingredients that I needed to accommodate the shrimps Thai style: fresh ginger and garlic, one onion, curry paste, a can of coconut milk, frozen bell pepper strips, and of course the shrimps.     As I retasted the wine during dinner, I was quite pleased with my shrimp curry dish. Far from being overwhelming, the medium-hot curry spices combined with the creamy coconut flavors were adding more dimensions to the wine.     Showing a light golden color, it had a flowery nose, slightly waxy, with notes of dried apricots and honey. On the palate, it was extremely creamy, mouth-filling, with a good amount of acidity. There was also some sweetness that interestingly disappeared on the finish, leaving an after-taste of dried herbs and mineral notes.     

Franci Cvetko serving his full line-up at Kogl winery.

Formally suited we hit the ground running on our latest work trip to Central Europe. We spent 12 days split between Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary. The night of our arrival was the kick-off Gala Dinner for the Zagreb Wine Gourmet Festival held in the capital’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Hosting over 140 wineries it is the largest tasting of Croatia’s wines all year. Attendees ranged from top politicians like President Ivo Josipovic to France's father of biodynamic farming Nicolas Joly. The fair itself was a frenzy of trade and consumers out of their minds to taste everything Croatian. We went in with high expectations but still the number of excellent wines was shocking. There is a growing self awareness among producers that indigenous grape varieties made in local styles are Croatia’s great strength. This coupled with the rapid increases in quality is yielding the most transparent views of Croatia’s complex terroir yet seen. To watch this unfold is inexplicable. Despite the crowd, between tastings we were able to finalize most of our spring shipment. Both days we tasted until the lights flashed and our mouths hurt. After the tasting we managed to enjoy 4 separate multi-course dinners in just 3 nights. We shared endless conversations with old friends, and got to know new ones. We all but completely burned ourselves out. Or so we thought.     Also at the fair pouring were a number of Slovenian producers including our friends from Kabaj. We had made plans to stay at their estate in Goriška Brda which has excellent guest accommodations. Together over the next few days we sped around Slovenia visiting their friends whose wines they thought we would enjoy. On the way from Zagreb we stopped in the chilly, domed hills of the Bela Krajina region to taste electric Laški Rizling and very cool climate Modra Frankinja AKA Blaufränkisch. We drank the iron rich Vitovska and Teran of the Karst, sea tinged Malvasija and Refošk from Koper, Pinela in both light and powerful forms from the Vipava and a long list of Brda wines, too numerous to recount. Our stay at Kabaj gave us a sense for not just the Kabaj wines but the family themselves. We tasted many wines some experimental, some from barrel, some quite old and others yet to be released. One long night this lasted until 6am in the morning. To enjoy this close a perspective on such an interesting producer was an honor. After this we met with our great partner Silvo Črnko and his 16 year old daughter Tamara who is a certified diver and now on her way to become a pilot. Naturally happy, Silvo’s gift is his ability to turn that happiness into wine. The 2010 Jareninčan, like the 09, is pure refreshing joy. Snow gently fell while we enjoyed a familial meal with the Cvetko's on the vineyard hill named Kogl. We selected a rose of Pinot Noir and an elegant sparkling from the expansive carefully nurtured selection of estate wines they Franci makes to be added to the classic dry whites of theirs we have long sold. These plus new wines from both Batič and Kabaj are due in Mid April.     From Slovenia we charged full bore into Hungary. Staying in Budapest next to the castle of Queen Maria Theresa, we took day trips to a number of important appellations. While in Budapest we spent time with our friends Gábor and Carolyn Bánfalvi who offer some of the best food and wine tours in Europe through their travel business "Taste of Hungary". Gábor introduced us to a number of excellent Forditas, an almost extinct “lesser” style of Tokaji we have been on the look-out for. We visited two volcanic wine regions back to back. Somlo, exclusively a white wine appellation and Eger which is almost exclusively red. Generally speaking the wines could not be more different. Somlo whites are big, gentle and lovely, while the reds from Eger are angular, sinewy and often demand aging. What they share is pronounced, often aromatic minerality and an infinite range of texture derived from the unique volcanic soils of each. Drawn to Somlo in part by the rare grape Juhfark we were equally struck by the Furmint, Hárslevelű and most of all Olaszrizling we tasted. In Eger we spent an evening with Dr. Janos Stumpf enjoying homemade wild venison sausage and a range of already delicious barrel samples. He is involved in a collaborative export project with Canadian Master Sommelier John Szábo called J&J. Their perfumed, muscular 2006 Kékfrankos from primly situated Eged vineyard will be coming to us soon. Taking little time to rest we managed to see both of Hungary’s major southerly red wine regions Szekszárd and Villány. After tasting the 2009 Eszterbauer Kadarka named Nagypám or Grandfather at Bistro Bock in Budapest last year we contacted Janos Eszterbauer and were lucky enough to buy a bit. Never met, only tasted one wine and it turned out to be one of the fastest selling for us, ever. Finally able to meet the family we discovered Eszterbauer is more than just great Kadarka. Just briefly seeing Villány we were happy we did not miss it. The final taste left in our mouths was Gere’s lovely new 2010 Rose and the sensational vintage specific Pinot Noir’s from the impassioned team at Vylyan.     As we seem to always find at the end of these trip our partners and the quality of their wines exceeded our expectations. We are excited to share what we found with you and hope that the wines will inspire you to visit our friends who make them.

A full program during the month of November.

It is our pleasure to announce that the one and only Hungarian restaurant in Los Angeles, Maximilian's is celebrating the Hungarian Heritage Month in November. There will be a series of cultural events, dances and music, special menus, and of course: Hungarian wines. Please see Maximilian's web site for more information.          We invite all of you to a special tasting event with a superlative line-up of wines at Maximilian's on Sunday, November 28th from 2 to 5pm. On this day we will present for the first time our new arrivals from Hungary. We are convinced that our Hungarian portfolio has never been better and is really showcasing what this ancient wine country has to offer: Taste with us the first organic Kekfrankos made by the Pfneiszl sister. Another premier in the U.S. is the spicy Kadarka from Eszterbauer in Szekszard. From the red wine paradise Villany we'll pour wines from wine maker super star Attila Gere, including his famous KOPAR. And from Tokaj we'll bring the dry and sweet wines from top estate Patricius. These fine wines will please everybody and they demonstrate that quality wine production is back and alive in Hungary!

Mike Dunne's Blog: A Year in Wine.

Our friend Tamas Torok recently hosted an extended sit-down tasting at his restaurant Seasons in Davis, CA. We designed a flight showcasing Hungary's best white, red, and sweet wines. Well known wine connoisseur Darrell Corti of Corti Brothers in Sacramento attended together with Mike Dunne, the Sacramento Bee's former wine and food editor. Read Mike's article From Hungary, Diversity and Quality.     The stars of the tasting were Tokaj's classic grapes: Furmint, Harslevelu, Yellow Muscat from Patricius and Zoltan Demeter in their dry & Aszu styles. Medium bodied reds made from native grapes paired well with home-made Hungarian food: Gere Portugieser and Pfneiszl Kekfrankos.

The bottle includes a handy map so you don't get lost in varietals

Having visited Pfneiszl last year, I've been intrigued by the wines that Birgit and her sister Katrin have been making.     In preparing for her career as a winemaker, Birgit literally traveled around the world to learn about winemaking in Italy, California, Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand. The result of this was an interest in trying out the various wines from these regions in their vineyards in Hungary. These few vines were just starting to produce last year and they had they have had their first proper harvest of them.     The end result is the távoli világ, a wine that is a blend of Shiraz, Carmenére, Malbec, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese. Definitely a wild blend (that I hope I never have to pronounce in front of a Hungarian), but one that is done quite delicately reflecting the fact that Birgit learned these grapes well in her travels. It's quite subtle at first, but then opens up with mint and watercress in a decently mineral nose. That watercress then turns in to a peppery, enjoyably spicy body that is light and fresh with the slightest tinges of strawberry and much more prevalent dark chocolate flavors. Raspberry also comes out after some decent breathing. On there finish there is a slight effervescence which is also in the nose when first opened.     An interesting wine that, due to the small amount of vines is not a large production, which is shown in the 500ml bottles and the fact it's most likely not going to be available outside of Hungary and Austria.

Alex working the bar.

As we mentioned previously, we were rather big fans of Sopron. It's a small, yet pretty town in a nice part of of Central Europe at the border of Austria and Hungary. The amount of quality wine that's there can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, there are a number of wine bars in the area to provide a more compact method to sample the region.     Kocsis Pinceszet sits just outside the old town center. Right about here on Várkerület utca. The interior of the place isn't anything to write home about with its long wooden benches and tables, but it's inviting and relatively homey. The owner's name is Alex (which in Hungarian is said more like Ow-lex) and he's a charming fellow who speaks Hungarian, German, and a good deal of English. The later of which is not too common in this area.     The best part of this wine bar is the fact that you can find just about every single wine from around Sopron (both on the Hungarian as well as on the Austrian side of the border) and Alex knows everything about all of them. He has some imports as well on a limited basis, but his real focus and love are the wines where his bar is located. Naturally, one of the most common wines he has there is Kékfrankos. He stocks the wine in various vintages from such producers as Weninger and Pfneiszl. Perusing his list and keeping the Hungary alphabet in mind, one will also find producers like Ivancsics, which is pronounced Ivanchich. If you think that sounds more like a Croatian name than Hungarian, you'd be right. There is a sizable Croatian minority in the region and a great many of them make good wines alongside their Austrian and Hungarian neighbors.     So if you're in Sopron and not looking for dental care, but rather tasty, tasty wines, stop in to Alex's establishment. It's a great way to get a flavor in your mouth for what they offer. Then you can set out to properly tour the wineries.

A tasting out amongst the Pfneiszl vineyards that started with their Sparkelina.

Pfneiszl is a young winery on old lands. Or actually, it's an old winery on its own old lands if that makes any sense. You see Pfneiszl (or Pfneisl depending on which side of the Hungarian/Austrian border you're on) is an old family winery based in both Hungary and Austria. It's just that in Hungary, the 27 hectares that made up their wine growing lands were seized by the former communist regime of Hungary in the name of collectivization. After that happened, they had to "make due" with the 70 hectares that the family kept in Austria just on the other side of the border. In 1993, these lands were returned to the family after decades of pumping out cheap bulk wine that was mostly sold to Russia. By this time, on the Austrian side they had been making very well-recognized wines and in what must be one of the most incredible gifts I've ever seen from a parent, they gave this 27 hectares to their daughters to work up and establish as a Hungarian winery.     These stories are not uncommon in the area of Sopron (pron. Shohprohn) in the far east of Hungary on a peninsula of territory that sticks in to Austria, right in to the middle of the very nice Burgenland winegrowing region. The Pfneisl sisters (they grew up in Austria, thus the spelling), Birgit and Katrin have now been running the vines for several years and bottled their first vintage in 2004. A good deal of replanting happened 10 years ago to replace a number of vines, although some of their older vines still remain. These days, they're growing Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot, Sangiovese, Malbec, Carmenére, Zenit, and as amazing as it is, even some Zinfandel. Birgit's study of winemaking around the world quickly becomes evident in the diverse selection of grapes.     While they have a tasting room near the center of Sopron, they took us out to a tasting amongst the vineyards overlooking Lake Fertö, which is a wide, flat, reedy lake that is at most two meters deep. Once up in the vineyard, one can see that it creates for an excellent micro climate that allows for a great deal of sun to hit the vines all year. Overall, you can taste this in the wines, as they hold a great deal more depth than other wines from just over the hill. But, enough about history, let's talk about the wines themselves.     We started off with their take on the Sparkling White Wine, which they call Sparkelina. We tasted the 2007 vintage and found it to be not too dry and very even-tempered. It has a clean finish and while I'm not a huge fan of the bubbly in general, I found their version to be quite pleasant and pleasing to drink. From there, it was on to the Kékfrankos 2006 'Classic'. It's a blend of grapes that have been aged in stainless steel with 30% in old Hungarian barrique. The nose is very calm and mild. The body is easy to drink and rather light and seemingly typical of Kékfrankos from the region, but light blackberry tones give way to a touch of pepper and other spices that you can taste near the end and in to the finish of the wine.     It was then on to one of Pfneiszl's signature wines, which is the Tango. We tasted the 2006 which is a blend of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 60% Merlot, and 10% Shiraz. The nose is light with a hint of vanilla and stronger blackberry elements to it. The body is smooth and the finish is pleasing. As the wine breathes more, it becomes more and more pleasing and is a wine that I would really recommend for just bout any meal as it is even-tempered and mellow, while at the same time carrying a good deal of flavor.     The Kékfrankos 2004 is a vintage that was aged in barrique for 22 months. Again, the nose has blackberry aromas to it, but it develops a slightly more complex nature with herbs coming through. A number of the aromas drop out in the body, but the berry tones stay quite prevalent and the body is a good deal more dry than the other wines of theirs we tasted, yet it is still quite pleasant.     The 2005 Shiraz has what I describe as a very creamy body which according to Birgit is from an extended fermentation period in the barrique. The barrique are French oak due to the 18 month stay in them, the wine takes on a number of vanilla qualities.     Their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon proved to be a nice surprise. Other Cabs from the region, I've often found to be rather flat given that I've been spoiled growing up on California Cabs. But the Pfneiszl Cab is not flat at all. It is dry, but very flavorful. The body is complex and earthy. It doesn't have the "cherry nose" to it that I've often found in other Central European Cabs. Birgit said that it had just been bottled a few months previous, so it was still under a bit of bottle shock, but irregardless, it was a very enjoyable wine to drink. Perhaps this is due to the 24 months it spends in Hungarian barrique.     The Impression Rouge is a blend of 50% Kékfrankos, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% Merlot. There is good deal more oak to it, which is probably due to the newer barrique that are being used. The finish has a delightful touch of boysenberry to it, which was quite unexpected. It is also a delightful wine to drink with deep, woody tones.     One thing to note about these wines is that Birgit's style is to allow the wines to be a bit more "wild" in their flavors. She doesn't try to force a particular consistency to the wines and this allows them to each be their own and age as they may. While this may be a death knell for other younger winemakers, she manages to work the wines in this manner with a great deal of success, making each Pfneiszl vintage quite unique. To this end, they also give each wine vintage its own name based upon how they feel the grapes tasted for that year. For instance, 2004 was, "Cool Elegance" and 2005 was "Starling's Favorite". It's a nice touch that makes the wines have a bit more character than just a numerical year on them.

Two of the American Wine Blog Award winners

Winners of the second annual American Wine Blog Awards were announced yesterday by Tom Wark who writes the wine blog Fermentation and who started them two years ago to give recognition to dedicated wine bloggers and stimulate new ones to start.     Among the winners we found one of our favourite wine blogs, San Francisco's acclaimed Vinography by Alder Yarrow, who won the awards for best overall wine blog and best wine blog writing. Not only is Vinography an excellent source of information and inspiration on restaurants and wine bars in San Francisco, but he has also reviewed several Austrian and Slovenian wines in the past, as well as one of our favourite Croatia whites, Bibich's Debit. We strongly suspect that he's been getting more into Croatian and Slovenian wines lately, since he celebrated the award with a bottle of Malvazija from Koper (perhaps by Santomas?).     Other winners of the American Wine Blog Awards included Good Wine Under $20 (best wine review blog and best single subject blog), Tablas Creek (best winery blog), The Wine Collector (best wine business blog), Chateau Petrogasm (best wine blog graphics), and Grape Radio (best wine podcast/video blog). Grape Radio is an excellent podcast (an online audio blog) that a while back devoted a very interesting show (click here to listen to it) to the Hungarian winery Disznókő, which produces really good quality Tokaji (such as this one or this one).     Twenty-four blogs in eight categories made it to the finals for the awards. Nominations were made by voters, and then winnowed down by a panel of 6 judges, followed by a vote of both the public and the judges to determine the winners. The public's tally got 70 percent of the weighting, with 30% of the voting power given to the judges. According to Wark, the judges were Jack Everitt, of the Fork & Bottle blog; Dan Fredman, of Dan Fredman Public Relations; Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast Magazine's West Coast editor; Derrick Schneider, Obsession With Food blogger; Wolfgang Webber, Wine & Spirits Magazine's associate editor and blogger, and Tori Wilder, of Wilder PR.     Tom Wark, who said that currently there are more than 700 American Wine blogs, commented on the winners: "Anyone who has been paying attention to the development of the world of wine blogs will likely recognize the winners of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. They represent a variety of things in this world: The Standard, The Expert, The Innovators, The Dedicated".     For a more detailed description of all the winners, check the announcement, or if you're curious to see who the finalists were for each catergory, here's the complete list, which will provide you with a lot of good wine reading.

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