2024 Critics Challenge International Wine & Spirits Competition

This year I was asked to serve as a wine judge for the 2024 Critics Challenge International Wine & Spirits Competition. It was an honor to be asked to sit with this amazing group of wine critics, writers, and bloggers to taste some really amazing entries. Founded in 2004 by wine critic and journalist Robert Whitley, Critics Challenge is one of the most important and respected wine and spirits competitions in the world.  This competition is a double-blind tasting, where each wine is evaluated 1 glass at a time, giving each entry its own time to shine without bias of a panel of glasses.
 
I had the distinct pleasure of being paired with Stacy Hunt, a contributing wine-and-food writer to MY LA Lifestyle, Huffington Post and other publications. She was an incredible partner throughout the weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions on what we were evaluating. Our lexicon of taste descriptors allowed us to have nuanced conversations about what we identified on the nose and in the glass.
 
Unique to this competition: Gold and Platinum awards are accompanied by the comment and score given by the individual Critic(s) that bestowed the award. These panels are made up of noted wine and spirits critics, bloggers, and beverage journalists each year.
 
This year the Chief Wine Judge was Michael Franz, Editor of the acclaimed online publication WineReviewOnline.com, and has covered the wine scene for more than 25 years, including a long stint as wine columnist at The Washington Post. The other Judges this year were: Rich Cook, Michael Cervin, Jeff Kralik, Patrick Comisky, Devin Parr, and Allison Levine. What a wonderful cast of welcoming, knowledgeable, and passionate wine professionals.
 
The Results of this competion can be found at: https://www.criticschallenge.com/results.htm