Really? REALLY? No, but...Really???

Home from Colombia, we were hit hard with the reality of work and ignored projects. While sorting the million miles of emails, request upon request of donations and people trying to sell me something, I find an alert to send wines in to the Great American International Wine Competition. Having recently decided to participate in these International Competitions (and having won Golds at the Finger Lakes International), we thought we'd roll the dice with this one too. However, my computer decided to have a fit and I couldn't get our wine info to upload; I contacted the organization. The organizers were very helpful and I had success!

A few days later, I receive an email asking if I would like to be a judge at the Great American International Wine Competition. I'm suspicious. Why me? What kind of scam is this? Are they going to need my credit card to "reserve my tickets"? Did they need "only" 8 cases of wine to secure my seat? I had questions.

"I googled you after you contacted us with website issues and was very impressed!". Turns out all the little side projects, the articles I've written, the classes I've taught, the guest speaker engagements I've had and my Sommelier Certifications seem to have caught their attention. I was still skeptical. "Thank you" I started, "but we do not have the budget at this time to send me to NY to participate". Nice try I thought. Nothing like a little flattery to work your victim into letting down their guard right?

With a little more back and forth, it was clarified that THEY would fly me to NY and pay for the hotel ...and the meals. Well now, NOW I'm interested! But still...me??? It just didn't seem real. Surely they made a mistake and will figure out that I am not their gal, or of course there will be a hidden catch. I told Jesse (who is perhaps 1st a winemaker and 2nd my husband) who was immediately concerned that if I did judge, would we still be able to enter our wines? Turns out, they are very fastidious and make sure that the wines are tracked and sent to judges that are not involved with that particular winery. That detail out of the way, Jesse got super excited! I continued to have an eyebrow raised.

Dinner parties and events filtered through our world and I avoided telling people the "big news". I told myself I would share when I had an airline ticket in hand. This really was a big deal, this International Wine Competition touts incredible judges from around the world and to be selected as one was not only an honor, but a very exciting experience!

Then it happened. I felt my face flush as my heart beat accelerated simply seeing the email heading "flight itinerary". I opened and printed the details of my flight and hotel stay. It was actually real. I would be flying to Rochester, NY to judge the world of wines! Oh shit, I'm not sure I can do this. My nasty negative self talk kicked in big time.

I think we all have it, that nagging voice in the back of your head that sheds self doubt at the most inopportune times. The one that creeps up when you think you left it far far behind. Mine showed up and decided to yell at me at 3:00am that I was a fraud. There was no way I had what it takes to hang with this caliber of wine expert. It left me shaken and worried. My husband, my confidant and best friend, reassured me. He pointed out how I had already proven myself in various ways. He encouraged me to remember my gift for exactly this type of wine work. He even, adorably, became my excited cheerleader talking me up to friends and family. I have to say, it did help. Until the day I had to board the plane.

My palms were sweaty. I needed a glass of wine. Two different flights, two glasses of wine and hours later, I landed at the tiny Rochester airport. I made the call to summon the hotel van and stood waiting, wondering how I would make it through this experience without my cheerleader holding my hand. Amazing that at 40 years old, I still feel like I need someone to be by my side at all times. I felt like a ridiculous little girl, wide eyed on the 1st day of school.

Suddenly a raspy voice bellowed behind me, someone talking on her cell phone. This woman walked right up to me and instantly knew I was there for the competition. Was it the suit jacket and heels or the stained purple teeth that gave it away? I quickly found out that she was there to judge Spirits, (the drinking kind, not the afterlife kind. Although from her appearance she could have done either) and that she knew her stuff, BUT she was delightful and friendly and after a high five and a hug, I was immediately put at ease. If she was any indication, this would be much more fun than I thought. I released a deep breath and let my shoulders reveal the neck they had been hiding.

My room was lovely and the view of the charming, historic downtown was already whispering seductively in my ear. I was good enough, I could do this, and gosh darn people like me! I couldn't help but think of the SNL skit and recognize how ridiculous I was being.

The next morning, I got breakfast, consciously avoiding strong flavors and focusing on protein for a long day of tasting. I arrived at the ballroom, the hallway lined with tall banners touting the importance of this competition, and marched right up to the check in table. I informed the friendly faces that I'd gotten in late the night before and needed to pick up my name tag and check in. She looked and looked, nope not on the list. She had me check at another table, nope nothing there. Crap, bad sign. Back at table one, she scanned my outfit and said "I know you are dressed nice, but are you ok washing glasses?" I wasn't sure what to say, at our winery, even after 20 years and National publicity we still have zero attitude about doing the dirty jobs, we do what needs to be done to help our staff. I smiled and said slowly "well...sure...I'm supposed to judge wine so...I'm not sure how I will do both, but..." The collection of women behind the table stopped what they were doing and like the screetch of a record player needle, looked at me in shock. "OMG! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were a judge! I'm so embarrassed!" The group surrounded me and repeatedly thanked me for being there, they laughed that they had asked a wine judge to wash dishes, and they escorted me to the correct check in.

I had to have been bright red by the time I reached the packet pick up for judges, the flattery seemingly misplaced and wasted on little old me. The founders of the competition greeted me warmly and showed me to my seat, introducing me to some of the phenomenal people of the wine world I would be working with. I was told the room was broken into spirits judging, amateur wine judging and commercial wine judging. Ahhhhh...I get it, I'm going to be an amateur wine judge, that makes sense. I had found the missing piece to the puzzle and my excitement dropped a little. I've done a great deal of amateur wine tasting in order to give feedback to enthusiastic winemakers trying to get into the biz, and it isn't always pleasant. New winemakers tend to make some typical errors that result in undrinkable wines. This would be 2 days of "eeewwwww".

It was time for the room to be introduced, we quickly sped through the room of 40 judges and were assigned categories. My table would be commercial wines. I would be working with the Robert Mondavi of Slovenia with multiple Doctorates of varying aspects of the wine industry, a wine writer who has written for most of the big wine magazines, the marketing person for Rodney Strong winery in Napa who is a regular judge at many other International Wine Competitions and the owner of the largest wine shop in NY who has a reputation far and wide. Across the isle was the esteemed gentleman that set up the Sommelier Certification program in Bordeaux.. he is literally a Wine God. My mouth dropped open.

Flight after flight of wine appeared, numbered and with corresponding judging sheets. Discussion after discussion ensued of why one of us had marked a wine up or down and if it should medal or not. By mid day I had people saying "oh wow Michele, I hadn't picked that up, I'm glad you pointed that out" and by day two, other judges were bringing me wines at lunch to discuss. The staff of volunteers bent over backwards to assist in any way possible, I'm pretty sure I could have asked for them to peel grapes for me and they would have done it. It was awesome!

Before I knew it, it was time to go back home. I felt like a princess as I said goodbye to people I was in awe of and staff thanked me again, and again, and again. I floated through the long day of travel and airplane changes, the two hour drive home from the airport and walked into my home ready for a mini parade of appreciation from my husband and son who I was sure had missed me and would want to hear every last detail of this extraordinary event.

Nothing. I walked in to nothing. My husband was taking a nap, heard me come in and yelled "hi" sleepily from his nap spot. My son, engrossed in reading, barely looked up. Several hours later, they remembered to ask me about my trip. I couldn't help but see the irony of this. Thank you family for keeping me humble.

Vivac WInery Great American International Wine Competition Awards:
*Sangiovese GOLD (also our new Rose is made from the same Sangiovese)
*Abbott White Wine SILVER
*Cabernet Sauvignon BRONZE
*1725 Riesling (Dry) BRONZE

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com