Dunne on Wine: Thirsty for the top white zin? Pull out $1.99

Unlike a year ago, when judges of the California State Fair commercial wine competition stunned observers by declaring a $2 chardonnay the best example of the varietal in the show, no such shocks show up in this year's results.

Oh, wait, what's this ... a $2 white zinfandel was named the best example of that fading style in this year's competition? Sure enough, judges found the Fox Brook Winery 2007 California White Zinfandel, sold exclusively at Save Mart supermarkets for $1.99, the best white zinfandel in the state.

A couple of reasons explain why this news isn't stirring the angst and amusement among wine enthusiasts that attended last year's chardonnay choice.

For one, just 22 white zinfandels were in the competition. A year ago, 351 chardonnays were judged.

Second, white zinfandel isn't as esteemed as chardonnay.

Chardonnay has a French pedigree. It's customarily made with a lot of fussiness. Many examples sell at premium and super-premium prices. It's marketed as a dry wine even though it often isn't. And it has become the default house wine at restaurants and dinner parties.

Chardonnay is the country's most popular varietal, last year accounting for 22 percent of wine sales in grocery stores, up 3 percentage points over the previous year, reports the Nielsen Co., which tracks consumer sales.

White zinfandel, on the other hand, almost invariably is cheap and sweet. It's pink, turning off some potential drinkers of the male gender. And it's homegrown, a California bumpkin more closely identified with the sprawling and dusty Central Valley than one of the state's more highly regarded appellations.

While white zinfandel still accounts for about 5 percent of the country's wine sales, the sales were off nearly 3 percent last year, says the Nielsen Co.

There is this delicious parallel, however: Last year's top chardonnay – the Charles Shaw 2005 California Chardonnay, familiarly known as "Two Buck Chuck," sold only at Trader Joe's stores – and this year's top white zinfandel were made by Bronco Wine Co. of Ceres.

The top winners of this year's State Fair commercial wine competition are to be announced Thursday evening at the annual Grape & Gourmet gala at Cal Expo.

Those winners will include the best-of-show red and white table wines, chosen from a field of 24 wines that either won or tied for top honors in the 10 regions into which the State Fair divides California for the competition. (An 11th "region" is for wines with a "California" appellation.)

If any thread is to be found among the 24 best-of-region wines, it's the number of this year's winners that represent value.

Let's use $15 a bottle as an arbitrary cutoff to separate value wines from others. In that case, of the 24 best-of-region wines, nine are value wines. They include the Castle Rock Winery 2006 Mendocino County Pinot Noir ($12) and the HRM Rex Goliath Wines California Cabernet Sauvignon ($9).

Another five fell between $15 and $20. Only two were priced $50 or above.

That so many inexpensive or moderately priced wines did well in the competition shouldn't be a big surprise. They come from the largest and most competitive price niches in today's wine market. Vintners with wines priced $50 and above tend to spend their marketing dollars elsewhere. Besides, they run more of a risk of embarrassment if they enter a judging and their wines don't show well.

As for another theme at this year's State Fair judging, the regional winners represent an encouragingly broad mix of varietals and styles. In addition to varietals largely responsible for California's standing on the world wine scene – cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, chardonnay – several others not so celebrated won high honors, including chenin blanc, sangiovese and riesling.

The State Fair results should be especially encouraging for producers and fans of grapes and styles of wine inspired by France's Rhone Valley. Two blended wines based on Rhone Valley varieties grown in California either won outright or tied for best regional reds. Two viogniers and a roussanne, white wines made with grapes most closely associated with the Rhone Valley, also won regional honors.

Several results reaffirmed the long-standing affinity between certain grape varieties and certain regions. Cabernet sauvignon, for example, is widely seen as the grape that does best in Napa Valley, so it isn't startling to learn that the Davis Family Vineyards 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($50) was named the best red wine for the appellation.

Similarly, Lodi historically has been recognized for its zinfandel, a reputation the competition reinforced with two high honors: The Crystal Valley Cellars 2006 Lodi Estate Ancient Vine Zinfandel ($30) was declared the best red wine for the Lodi appellation while the Macchia Winery 2006 Lodi Noma Ranch Outrageous Zinfandel ($20) was named the best zinfandel in the state.

To the contrary, however, some wines did particularly well in areas for which they aren't especially recognized. A cool-climate grape pulled an upset in a hot-climate region when the South Coast Winery 2007 Temecula Valley Carter Estate Vineyard Gewurztraminer ($14) was judged the best white wine in the appellations of the south coast.

Similarly, the Concannon Vineyard 2006 Livermore Valley Chardonnay ($20) was named the best white wine of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, a region not especially celebrated for the varietal.

A total 2,905 wines were judged, with about 10 percent winning gold medals and almost one-third receiving silver medals. More than one-fourth got no medal at all.

And for the record, the best chardonnay at this year's State Fair judging cost a bit more than $2. It's the Martin & Weyrich Winery 2005 Edna Valley Jack Ranch Chardonnay ($18).

About the writer:

• Call Bee wine columnist Mike Dunne at (916) 321-1143. Read his blog at www.sacbee.com/appetizers.