The 2013 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition Results were announced and I posted a filtered list of the Texas wineries from the results. Now it’s time for a little analysis of the results for the Texas medal wines.
First, it is a little confusing because this is the 2013 wine competition but it’s only 2012 right now. That’s because the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo doesn’t happen until 2013. Clear now?
As we all heard, the top Texas wine was the 2012 Pedernales Cellars Viognier. Congratulations!
After the top award-winning results were announced and before the complete list was released, I happened to be at Messina Hof and talked to Paul V. Bonarrigo. He was extremely happy for Pedernales Cellars for winning the top Texas wine this year just like Messina Hof took the honors last year for their 2004 Messina Hof Solera. He was especially proud that Messina Hof this year took the title of Top All-Around Winery which meant their entire line of wines was viewed to get that title.
For the 2012 competition, 2,454 wines from 736 wineries were judged. This year, 2,884 wines from 943 wineries were judged. Out of the 2,884 wines, only 2,293 were awarded medals so not every wine entered got a medal.
Of the 2,293 wines which were awarded medals, 249 of those wines came from Texas wineries. That may seem small, but there were 943 total wineries entered from around the world and it included 57 Texas medal-winning wineries.
Total medals for Texas wineries were:
- 8 Double Gold
- 32 Gold
- 110 Silver
- 99 Bronze
The top medal winning Texas wineries were:
- Messina Hof – 24
- Haak Vineyards and Winery – 17
- Landon Winery – 15
- Georgetown Winery – 11
- Becker Vineyards – 10
- Llano Estacado Winery – 10
Last but not least is a statistic that is often viewed by Texas wine purists: how many Texas wines used Texas fruit. Out of the 249 medal winning wines, 179 wines were made with Texas fruit.
Next up is the Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition to be held on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. I can’t wait to attend and try some of these award winning wines!
I’m curious about the results for the 2013 competition. You say:
“Out of the 2,884 wines, only 2,293 were awarded medals so not every wine entered got a medal.”
While you use the word “only”, suggesting great selectivity in achieving a medal, quick math reveals 79.5% of the wines entered received some sort of medal. That does not support a description of “only”. This seems more like a “participant” ribbon they used to give out at elementary school competitions for someone simply showing up.
To be fair, I don’t know results from other competitions and whether these result ratios are typical. But it doesn’t really suggest great acocmplishment when 8 out of 10 wines achieve a medal.
Maybe I don’t understand the point of the competitions…
The point I was making is some people assume every wine entered in a wine competition gets a medal, much like your elementary school analogy. I too do not know the intricate details of how a wine competition is judged and medals awarded as I have not been a judge. If some day I am asked and I participate, I could perhaps give you a better answer.