At the end of last week, I flew out to San Diego for a couple of days to serve as a wine judge for the twentieth edition of the Critics Challenge Wine Competition. Rich Cook, the competition’s director and a wine writer for WineReviewOnline.com asked me to join the competition back in April and before I agreed, I decided to do a bit of research.

In addition to perusing the competition’s webpage, I placed a few calls to a few pals who regularly make the rounds to the numerous wine competitions across the country. There are a ton of wine competitions every year and many organizers try to distinguish their particular competition in a way so as to encourage more entrants.

Most wine competitions require an entry fee to enter, usually around $100 per wine, as well as several bottles of each wine. The fees are used to run the competition, including paying the judges, promoting the competition, and disseminating the results. Some competitions, such as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR), serve as fundraisers for particular causes (the HLSR provides hundreds of scholarships every year to Texas students, for example, and everyone involved is a volunteer).

When discussing the Critics Challenge, several people used the phrase “somewhat unique” to describe the competition. Before I get to what makes the Critics Challenge different or unique, I have to address “somewhat unique” and its equally concerning relatives, “really unique”, “totally unique”, “incredibly unique”, and “kind of unique”.

Unique literally means “one of a kind” or “unlike any other” thus “somewhat unlike any other” makes absolutely no sense. Neither does “really one of a kind”. There are no degrees to “unique” something is either unique or it is not. Period.

So after I got over the bastardization of the English language aspect of labelling the Critics Challenge as “somewhat unique” here is what makes it unique: instead of being on a panel of 4-5 judges, tasting a dozen or more wines at a time, at the Critics Challenge each judge is paired with one other judge and they taste one wine at a time, discussing its components and merits before arriving at a judgment.

Intrigued, I agreed to serve as a judge, but almost immediately, I regretted it, somewhat. I was not worried about the judging itself, as I have been a judge for the HLSR for seven years now. What had me somewhat worried? The other judges. It was a really powerful group:

• Michael Franz: wine judge for 25 years, editior of WineReviewOnline.com, former wine columnist for the Washington Post.
• Michael Cervin: author of 11 books(!), and has contributed to just about every wine publication on the planet.
• Wayne Belding: the 13th American to achieve “Master Sommelier”
• Stacie Hunt: “an Emmy and Belding Award-winning TV journalist, and a contrbuting wine-and-food writer to MY LA Lifestyle, Huffington Post and other publications.”
• Rebecca Murphy: founded what became the TexSOMM wine competition.
• Patrick Comiskey: Senior contributor to Wine & Spirits Magazine.
• Brianne Cohen: WSET diploma holder.
• Miranda Franco: contributor to WineReviewOnline.com
• Jeff Kralik: A bozo who rides a bike and has a blog.

So, yeah, I was somewhat intimidated.

The opening reception included some stellar wines, including this beautiful 2013 Les Torres Brulées.

It turned out, however, to be an absolute blast; everyone was so nice, engaging, encouraging, and just fantastic. I could not have asked for a better partner in crime for the weekend, Stacie Hunt, who, in addition to having an amazing palate, was totally hilarious.

The judges’ room.

I have no idea if they will ask me back next year as they might consider some of my selections for the top award, Platinum, were somewhat questionable (I gave the top designation to not one but two wines from Jacob’s Creek, a large production winery in Australia whose wines go for around seven bucks), but I will fondly remember my first Critics Challenge as a really, incredibly, totally, wonderful experience.

Big spit bucket. And that’s Patrick Comiskey and Brianne Cohen.

Another unique aspect? The results from the competition are published really quickly after wrapping up. In fact, they are already up: Critics Challenge 2023 Results.

Fifty Cents’ Champagnes were in da club (see what I did there?). Yes, the one in the middle came with a battery pack and actually lit up.

Another unique aspect to the Critics Challenge: the interaction with the back room support staff was somewhat constant and totally wonderful.