Much More To Grand Cru Than Just Wine Tasting

By Kurt A. Eichsteadt
Editorial Assistant

Serenity and traditions going back centuries met a logistical operation with thousands of interlocking pieces last weekend during the Long Beach Grand Cru Wine Competition at the Petroleum Club.

In one room, the atmosphere is calm, as wine experts taste samples of dozens of wines.

Across the hall, a group of volunteers deals with hundreds of bottles of wine and thousands of glasses, working swiftly and carefully to ensure the smooth flow of wine to the judges. This year’s competition involved 2,000 wines from around the country and world poured into 12,000 glasses.

The results of this finely-tuned wine competition along with food from many of the area’s finest restaurants, will be presented to the public at the Long Beach Grand Cru on Saturday, Aug. 16, at Rainbow Lagoon Park.

Since it began in 1988, the Long Beach Grand Cru has become an important force in the world of wine, according James Trezise, one of the judges and an international expert in the field.

“Thanks to events like this, and Chief Judge Dan Berger, there is much more openness to new and unusual wines,” Trezise said. “Different kinds of grapes are grown in the East and there were times when they would not be treated fairly in California competitions. Thanks to tastings like this, we (wine growers) know that they will get a fair chance in competition.”

Trezise, named one of the top 50 movers and shakers in the United States by Wines and Vines Magazine, has been president of the New York Grape and Wine Foundation since its creation in 1985. He is president of the International Riesling Foundation, serves on the Presidential Council and as a Director of the FIVS, formerly Federation Internationale des Vins et Spirituex International Federal of Wine and Spirits based in Paris.

Another judge, Coke Roth, is an attorney who started judging wines in 1976. He said that it took about seven years to build the vocabulary necessary to adequately judge different styles of wine. He jokes that although he’s a lawyer who spends his time with absolutes in terms of laws, “my daughter is a figure skater and I’m a wine judge, so I’m surrounded by subjective judgments!”

Most wine competitions on the level of the Long Beach Grand Cru take place over two days. All the wines are tasted the first day and rated gold, silver, bronze or no award. Then the second day, all the gold medal winners are retasted for a possible sweepstakes award.

When the wines arrive for the completion, each is assigned a number. Wines are tasted in groups, or flights, and sometimes as many as 14 glasses are placed in front of each judge. The tables also are set with crackers, cheeses, green olives and water and several receptacles for the judges to deposit the wine after tasting instead of swallowing.

After the wines have been sampled, the judges offer their evaluations in turn: gold, silver, bronze or no award. A volunteer keeps track and sometimes there is discussion, or one judge will say, “ Maybe I should taste that one again.”

Occasionally, a bad bottle will turn up. The judges recognize this instantly and in the back, a replacement bottle will be opened.

The actual process of tasting is brisk, but friendly. Listening to judges, the descriptive words flow: “a little oxidized,” “raspberry squared,” “recent, nice balance,” “off odor,” “fragrant,” “it’s a problem, low level,” “more a mouth feel than a nose,” “the nose was chippy,” “mild palate, tasty, spicy,” “nice, simple,” “a little tart,” generous, small cherry,” “smell wood and taste wood,” and the best comment, “maybe I got those two mixed up.”

This process starts in the morning and goes on for several hours, followed by a break for lunch and then several more hours of tasting. Then it’s back for the second day.

The Long Beach Grand Cru was started in 1988 by the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach as a relatively small event to raise money for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (The two groups merged in 2001). In 1995, the foundation decided to expand the event and it has grown from one day to two and now attracts wines from around the world. More than a thousand people participate in the Grand Cru.

The beneficiary of all this effort, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, offers programs and services for low-income residents in LA County. In a recent year, they helped more than 14,000 clients and aided almost 55,000 more people through its outreach programs.

The public event begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, in the Rainbow Lagoon Park, on Shoreline Drive between Shoreline Village Drive and Linden Avenue. Tickets are $160 if purchased by Aug. 10 and $180 after that date. For tickets, call (213) 640-3848. More information is available at www.longbeachgrandcru.com.

A partial list of participating companies includes: 555 East, Buono’s Authentic Pizzeria, Daily Grill, daVinci, Edible Arrangements, Finbar’s Italian Kitchen, Frenchy’s Bistro, The Gaslamp Restaurant & Bar, Il Fornaio, King’s Fish House, Khoury’s Restaurant, La Creperie Café, La Traviata, Long Beach Petroleum Club-Catering, L’Opera, The Madison, On the Mark, Paradise Piano Bar & Restaurant, Parkers Lighthouse, Sugarpot Bakery, Trump National Golf Club, Vintage Tea Leaf, Vint’s American Grill and the Whale & Ale.

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