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How Wine Tasters Influence Buyer Preferences

By Karen Grigsby Bates
Published July 7, 2004 at 11:00 PM CDT
Racks of wine bottles awaiting tasting. There are 4,000 entries in the competition, and 120 wines to taste each day.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR
Racks of wine bottles awaiting tasting. There are 4,000 entries in the competition, and 120 wines to taste each day.
Judge Barry Burton demonstrates what could happen if you have too much red wine -- stained, sensitive teeth.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR /
Judge Barry Burton demonstrates what could happen if you have too much red wine -- stained, sensitive teeth.

Ever wonder what those gold and silver medals on wine bottles mean, and how they got there? NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates talks with judges at America's largest wine competition to discover how they influence what ends up in your shopping cart.

List of Award-Winning Wines at the 2004 Los Angeles County Fair Wines of the World Competition:

• Best White Wine: Geyser Peak Winery, Sauvignon Blanc, Block Collection, River Road Ranch, 2003

• Best Wine of the Competition, Limited Production: Barrister Winery, Cabernet Franc, Columbia Valley, 2002

• Best Limited Production White Wine: Clos du Lac Cellars, Sauvignon Blanc, Sierra Foothills, Amador County California, 2003

• Best Sparkling Wine: Domaine Chandon, Blanc de Noir, Methode Champenoise, California

• Best Late Harvest Wine: Jackson-Triggs Vintners, Ice Wine Riesling, Proprietors Grand Reserve, 2002

• Best Organic Wine: Lopez Island Vineyards, Siegerrebe, Puget Sound Estate, 2003

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Business & Education
Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
See stories by Karen Grigsby Bates
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