This past week the four judges for the North Idaho Wine Rodeo, Eric Cook, Jill Kausen, Chris Cates and I completed the evaluation of over 200 entries to this year's competition. As always with this event and frankly any blind tasting or judging of wines, some familiar faces as well as some newcomers emerged from the fray. There were surprises and predictability at the same time and all in all we tasted some fabulous wines from appellations in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and many growing areas here in the United States.

The big winners of the belt buckles for Best in Show White and Best in Show Red, which will be announced at the tasting on Aug. 22, were interesting to the panel for a number of reasons. The winner of the award for white wine is a winery that has taken home the prize in the past, and came out of the Chardonnay varietal category.

The winner in the reds though faced an even more daunting task. The winning wine came from the most crowded of the varietal categories - Red Blends more than $20. Red Blends every year receives the largest number of entries causing it to be split into categories over $20 retail and those priced at $20 and under. Even after splitting the category the higher priced category receives more entries than even Cabernet, so standing out in a group that large speaks to the quality of the wine that won.

After winning the Blend category the wine then moved into Best in Show with no drop off in competition. The Best in Show Red competition was bigger this year due to ties for first place in two of varietal categories as well as breaking out any varietal that had 3 or more entries to limit the size of the "Other Red" category and provide a more robust and competitive field. Despite all these challenges this first time winner and producer of fewer than 3,000 cases emerged as the top wine.

We are waiting to hear if the winning winemakers will be able to be at the fair for the presentation on the 22nd, but even if they are not able to make the trip consumers will still have the opportunity to taste these and other fabulous wines, and ultimately this is what the judges, coordinators winemakers, and all involved in the Wine Rodeo work for; is the opportunity to showcase great wine and allow buyers to try them to find their own favorites.

Tickets for the event are on sale now here at the dinner party, 3520 North Government Way, and at the Fairgrounds office. The tickets are $25 in advance and include entry to the fair and the tasting, your souvenir logo wine glass, and your first 5- 2 ounce tastes of wine. Additional tastes can be purchased for $2 per taste. Tickets purchased at the gate will cost you $35 to get into both the fair and the tasting.

The event this year will be on opening day of the fair, Wednesday Aug. 22 from 5-8 p.m. and will take place outside under the trees in Foundation Park and will feature entertainment as well as food vendors. We have moved the time of the tasting and the location to better manage the heat that we experienced on Saturday afternoon to make the event more enjoyable and also have the wine show better!

We are all looking forward to a great event and tasting some great wine and hope to see all of you there.

If there is a topic you would like to read about or questions on wine you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party - a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George is also the managing judge of The North Idaho Wine Rodeo and writes frequently for the online version of Coeur d'Alene Magazine at www.cdamagazine.com. You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com.