Professional Wine Competition
2023 Sweepstakes Winning Wines
Sweepstakes Specialty
De La Montanya Vineyards & Winery
2020 Twisted Jill Blanc de Blanc
Russian River Valley
Andrew Schwendeman
97 points
“Elegant bouquet of delicate white fruit. Exceptional minerality with a long silky, almost creamy finish. Well balanced and a great example of blanc de blanc.”
Sweepstakes Red
Wilson Winery of Dry Creek
2021 Zinfandel
Dry Creek Valley Reserve
Diane Wilson
97 points
“Ready for fall, deep layers of colors of barn red and current, red ripe fruit with an earthy undertone of allspice and alpine strawberry. Delicious!”
Professional Wine Coordinator
Sheila Quince
About Sheila
For Sheila Quince who grew up showing livestock and judging poultry in FFA and 4-H programs in Sonoma County, it’s not at all surprising she has enjoyed a 30-plus year career working for the Sonoma County Fairs.
“I love the Harvest Fair so much—I feel like it’s my baby that I have been watching grow and mature for all of these years”, laughs Sheila who technically retired from her full-time position in 2011, but returns every year to oversee the important wine judging coordination for the Grand Tasting event.
Sheila was born in San Francisco and in the late 1960’s her family moved to a small ranch in Sonoma County. At Santa Rosa High School she got involved with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and began showing livestock. She credits FFA for teaching her invaluable skills and public speaking abilities that would lead her to becoming a finalist and ultimately winning a poultry judging state finals competition that led to her representing California at the National Convention in Kansas City, MO.
After graduating high school, Sheila went on to Santa Rosa Junior College and then to CSU Fresno where she earned a degree in Animal Science. While at both she joined the dairy cattle judging team and competed at both the state and national levels for 4 years. She landed her first job back in Santa Rosa at Sonoma County Farm Supply. She also got married in 1980.
It was J Wesley Jamison aka Mr. J., longtime retired ag teacher who first suggested that Sheila speak to Saralee McClelland Kunde about potential career opportunities at the fair. Sheila describes being hired on the spot as a temp in 1982, and as the saying goes—the rest is history.
Sheila’s work was centered around exhibits for both the Sonoma County Fair and the Harvest Fair. After five years, Saralee left her position, and Sheila took over as Premium and Exhibit Coordinator for both fairs managing the many exhibits that included everything from a livestock area showcasing cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, poultry, and rabbits to adult and junior exhibits of arts & crafts, artwork, floriculture & the professional gardens. She also oversaw the fair’s junior livestock auction that each year sold over 1,000 animals raised by 4-H and FFA youth.
Eventually Sheila would shift her focus to the ever-growing professional wine competition. Even in 1999 there were 650 wines submitted for the competition. Today, the number has grown to 973 entries from 126 wineries entered this year.
Sheila can’t hide her deep sense of gratitude and dedication for an event she has presided over for more than 30 years, “The team, the office – everybody is a key part of the wine competition—the whole event makes me so proud and the fact we are still going strong with a robust competition speaks to the caliber of the event”, says Sheila. She also credits the Wine Judging Coordinator, Bob Fraser for his professional expertise, and readily admits the competition could not exist without the dedicated group of 40 volunteers aka the “Back Room Staff” who show up every year to pour countless glasses of wine for the judges.
Even though she has been retired for over 10 years and has a family including two adult children with families including two grandchildren, it seems highly unlikely Sheila has any plans for a final farewell toast anytime soon.
Introducing our Professional 2023 Judges
The choice of judges for the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Professional Wine competition is a critical step in creating a well-balanced panel of experts that will award Best of Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the over 1,000 wines that will be entered into the competition this year. Harvest Fair strives to recruit a range of experts representing all regions in the US. These include educators, enologists, trade, media and professionals in the hospitality industry.
Kris Ronald Anderson - Wine Buyer, Petaluma Store, 2017-present
Kris began his wine career in the ‘80’s in restaurants, working both the front and the back house, eventually becoming chef/general manager. Although he left the business in the mid ‘90’s for a career in operations management he never lost his lust for wine and tasting becoming a consummate dinner-party host. Kris has jumped into the position of wine buyer with both feet and an eager and sophisticated palate. He regularly tastes 30-50 wines a week and has judged wine competitions. Look for him at the Petaluma store and be sure to ask him for a recommendation.
Carrie Boyle - Wine Writer, Consultant, Educator, Antelope, CA
Wine Writer, Sacramento Magazine
Carrie Boyle is the co-founder of River City Wine Week (@rivercitywineweek on Instagram, www.rivercitywine.com), a wine writer for Sacramento Magazine online and she has over 20 years in the wine industry. She has been a general manager for a national wine & spirits retailer, owned and operated her own fine wine shops, and is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW). She has judged wine competitions around Northern California, made her own wine, designed and taught classes, orchestrated large wine events and traveled to wine regions all over California, Oregon, Washington, Australia, New Zealand, France (Burgundy, Rhone Valley, Bordeaux, Champagne, and Beaujolais), and Spain (Rioja and Ribera del Duero). Today, in addition to managing River City Wine Week, she acts as a broker representative for hand-crafted wineries from various corners of the world, and actively promotes Sacramento as a wine vacation destination.
Sarah Doyle - Wine Reporter, The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, CA
Wine Reporter, The Press Democrat and Sonoma Magazine
Over the past 20+ years, Sarah has written about wine, spirits, and food for over 50 publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, Gourmet, Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Whisky Advocate, Forbes, Robb Report, and many others.
Sarah joined the wine industry in 2006 when the stars aligned and she scored a job as a tasting room host at Tablas Creek winery in Paso Robles, Calif. From there, she went on to work for many wineries on the Central Coast and in Sonoma County in roles that ranged from communications, marketing, public relations, social media, DTC sales, tasting room management, and wine production, among others.
Sarah has completed three harvest internships and has taken advanced college courses on enology, viticulture, wine chemistry, sustainable/organic winegrowing, and more. In 2018, she earned her Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Award in Wine.
A former chef and recipe developer for print media, Sarah is a graduate of the professional culinary training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City. She’s also highly versed in the art and production of Scotch whisky and a graduate of Bruichladdich Distillery’s Malt Whisky Academy on Scotland’s Isle of Islay.
Sarah lives in Sonoma County with her husband, Andy, and her three wiener dogs: Ramsay, Minnie, and Sophie Francine.
Mike Dunne, Freelance Wine Writer, Sacramento, CA
Mike Dunne, who has been writing of wine in Northern California for 50 years, is the author of the newly published book “The Signature Wines of Superior California: 50 Wines that Define the Sierra Foothills, the Delta, Yolo and Lodi.” In the book, Mike traces the evolution of the modern wine trade about Sacramento through 50 wines that represent character, quality, value and pivotal developments in grape varieties, wine styles, appellations and personalities during that span. When he isn’t writing of wine and travel for various publications and platforms, including his website SignatureWines.us, Mike frequently judges at wine competitions across the United States. He and his wife Martha, also a wine judge, reside in Sacramento, CA.
Sahar Gharai, Owner La Dolce Vita Lounge, Petaluma, CA
Sahar returns as a judge for the Harvest Fair this year. She currently owns La Dolce Vita Lounge in Petaluma. La Dolce Vita carries a huge, and perpetually revolving selection of fine wine both for tasting, sipping, purchase by the half-carafe and by the bottle. Patrons are welcome to buy a bottle to drink on site or to take home, Sahar can help lead you through the wine list to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Bill Hayes, Bounty Hunter Wine & Spirits, Napa, CA
Wine Category Manager, BevMo!
Bill Hayes is the Wine Category Manager at Bounty Hunter Wines & Spirits. With over 33 years of career experience in the Wine Retail industry, Bill has developed key relationships with winery Owners, Winemakers, Growers as well as other industry partners that have cultivated his vast knowledge of and passion for Wines around the world.
Bill’s career in the Wine business began as a Buyer with the Liquor Barn stores. Bill was also a part of the Kendall-Jackson Family Wine organization where he managed the Distributor portfolio that included Kendall-Jackson, La Crema, Cambria and Stonestreet Wines. Bill has traveled throughout Europe and South America to work with Wineries and industry partners to blend and bottle Import Wines such as Zolo and Tapiz, and has blended and developed varietal extensions of the Unruly , Shiloh Road and Stateland Cellars brands. Bill’s current focus with BevMo! is sourcing and developing the premium selection of wines from around the world and promote the local brands for the next-generation consumer.
Pat Henderson, Winemaking Consultant, Santa Rosa, CA
Pat Henderson is a veteran with more than thirty years of wine making experience and has been the chief winemaker for Kenwood vineyards, Valley of the Moon Winery and Hedges Cellars. He currently works as a wine making consultant and wine educator in the Sonoma Valley. In addition to his work as a consultant, he teaches winemaking classes for both the UC Davis Winemaking Certificate Program and Santa Rosa Junior College.
A graduate of the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California at Davis Pat supplemented his formal education by interning at five different wineries while getting his degree. After graduation he worked in both the Napa and Sonoma valleys before taking his first position as head winemaker at Hedges Cellars in Washington State in 1995.
Barry Herbst - Wine Director, Bottle Barn, Santa Rosa, CA
Wine Category Manager, Bottle Barn
Barry has more than three decades of experience in the wine industry, ranging from sommelier and wine shop owner to high-level retail and private cellar acquisitions. He was raised in Southern California, where he earned his stripes in some of LA’s most celebrated restaurants, among them Chinois on Main and Osteria Angelini. Most recently, Barry was General Manager of the Rare Wine Company in Sonoma, as well as working with Soutirage and Bounty Hunter Rare Wine & Spirits in Napa Valley. Currently, he is the wine buyer for Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, CA, a 15,000 square foot superstore and arguably has the largest and finest selection of fine wines north of San Francisco. Barry blames a bottle of 1980 Jayer Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux for having sent him down the rabbit hole many years ago. Today, he lives in Petaluma, CA with his wife, two children and Australian Shepherd, Elvis, to whom he happily dedicates every spare moment outside of work.
Josh Kirchhoff, Corporate Wine/Liquor Coordinator, Oliver’s Markets, Santa Rosa, CA
Josh recently joined the team at Oliver’s Markets as their Corporate Wine/Liquor Coordinator. Harvest Fair welcomes him to our roster of judges this year!
Rick Kushman - Wine Commentator, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento, CA
Capital City Radio
Rick Kushman is a New York Times bestselling author and an award-winning journalist who is the wine commentator and a guest host for Capital Public Radio, Sacramento’s NPR affiliate. He is also the creator and co-host of the popular podcast “Bottle Talk with Rick and Paul,” which is featured on the Capital Public Radio podcast lineup among many others.
Rick was a longtime columnist for The Sacramento Bee and his writing has appeared in publications ranging from Time Magazine to Sommelier Journal to Daily Variety. He has worked in the wine industry as a consultant on service and communication and as a Napa Valley-based Communications Strategist for E&J Gallo Winery. His day job now is handling Executive Communications for UC Davis Health.
He is the author of two books, and the second, “The Barefoot Spirit,” a business book set in the wine world, spent two months on the New York Times Bestseller list. He also offers inventive, light-hearted, anti-winespeak programs for corporate events and for the public, and he conducts media trainings and public speaking seminars for wineries, corporate clients and industry groups. Rick has served as Co-Chief Judge for the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition and is currently Chief Judge of the State Fair’s Home Winemaker’s Competition.
Tony Lawrence, Owner Chef, Sommelier, Philadelphia, PA
Passionate and trusted wine and food pairing specialist professional. A talented chef Sommelier, international wine and food judge, educator/lecturer.
In 2002 he launched a startup, as the owner of A Winechef For You, LLC. A catering and Branding company, that promotes truth to wine pairings, a “think tank” advocating sharing globally our wine’s history of art, terrior science, a sense of place/culture, bridging wine roots to food. He develops wine pairing programs for the global wine trade, associations, groups, college culinary/wine programs and wine festivals. Some of his writing is for retail wine shops that have a need for wine pairing point of sale programs.
Tony’s journey started around home, the restaurants and wineries of Maryland. From Vocational cooking school, a full scholarship to Widener University Hotel/Restaurant earned BS degree 82 class and interned/at the Hotel Krone Assmannshausen.
Laura Ness - Wine Columnist, San Jose Mercury News, Los Gatos, CA
Wine Columnist
Laura Ness is an avid wine journalist with a deep respect for the many hands behind the myth and reality of wine. Every aspect of wine is infused with stories, and telling those stories in a compelling way has become her passion.
A visit to France shortly after college imprinted the concept of terroir indelibly as she tasted wines in the very towns that bear their names. Sancerre, Chinon and Vouvray were not just wines, they were actual places: places you could taste.
Laura’s wine obsession eventually led her from high tech communications to the wine industry, where she is the wine columnist for Spirited and Los Gatos magazines, as well as several Bay Area newspapers. She also writes regularly for industry and consumer publications like Edible: Monterey, Wine Business Monthly, Wine Industry Network, and WineOh.Tv. She judges wine competitions throughout California and enjoys playing “wine concierge” for people seeking out wineries and experiences that provide a unique sense of place.
Greg Richtarek - Wine Steward, Safeway, Los Gato, CA
WSE, Wine Steward, Safeway
Currently wine steward at Safeway Stores, Greg has a broad background in the wine and spirits marketplace. His experience includes management in hospitality, marketing, production and business modeling. Greg is WSET certified and has been an accredited judge for the past eight years.
Tom Simoneau - The Wine Guy, Healdsburg, CA
There are few people in Northern California’s Wine County — in fact, just one — who truly can be defined as The Wine Guy. That would be Tom Simoneau.
Grape grower and Winemaker. Wine Educator, Wine Competition Judge and Wine Critic. Wine Marketer. And for two decades, the clever and insightful host of a syndicated daily radio show offering reviews and “wine stains” to help guide listeners towards exceptional wine experiences.
As well known as he is in the world of wine, his journey from Boston to California fronting a country rock n’ roll band is less well known, though often hinted at by the one remaining nod to that era, a distinctive flowing mane that dips below his shoulders. The hint of a rebel, which always has paired well with distinctive winemaking.
Arriving in California to pursue a record contract, he found himself mesmerized by the beauty and energy of Sonoma County, which reminded him just enough of his home in Maine to bring added comfort. Life had taken an unexpected turn, and Tom helped launch Windsor Vineyards, an early direct to consumer wine company offering personalized labels (bottled for the Wine Cellar of The Mason Family, for example) to eager wine lovers all across America. As he gained insights and experience with wine marketing, it was only logical that growing grapes and making wine were next.
When he made his first wine Tom couldn’t resist going truly old school, crushing the grapes with his feet.
In 1988, now married to his childhood sweetheart, a fellow Mainer, Tom and Brenda purchased 12½ acres in the benchlands of Alexander Valley. Simoneau Vineyards began with 10 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and a small number of Bordeaux varietal blending grapes. Over the next two decades, they honed and improved the farming of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay and became sought after growers for distinguished wineries.
Jeff Slankard, Wine & Beer Director, Baron’s Market, Oceanside, CA
Jeff Slankard is the Wine and Beer Director of Barons Market, a chain of specialty food stores located in San Diego and Riverside counties. He has been in the retail wine business in San Diego for over 30 years. He has judged at numerous wine competitions including the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, the Central Coast Wine Competition and the Toast of the Coast Wine Competition. Jeff lives in North County San Diego with his wife and two sons.
Helena Welsh - Executive Director, Lake County Wineries Assn, Kelseyville, CA
Executive Director, Lake County Winery Assocition
Helena Welsh is the Executive Director of the Lake County Winery Association. Helena is the current President of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and serves on other boards including the Lake County Wine Alliance, Rotary Club of Clearlake and 1Team1Dream.
Evan Williams - Restaurateur, South Lake Tahoe, CA
Evan Williams is the owner of Evan’s American Gourmet Cafe in Lake Tahoe, California. His customers convey appreciation for the food, the service, the memories — and nearly all of them include a note expressing excitement about the next visit, regardless if it comes in a matter of months or a year. “That’s what sets us apart … our attention to detail and doing it the right way,” of the restaurant he and his wife Candice founded in 1988. It boasts an extensive wine list which includes many Sonoma County wines.
Jane Halahan Valentin - Winemaker & Consultant, Folsom, CA
Jane Halahan Valentin is a luxury winemaking professional who has served as a winemaker to Beringer Vineyards and Stags’ Leap Winery. She studied Winemaking at UC Davis while getting her Master’s at Sonoma State University. Her goal is to showcase the extensive possibilities of traditional varietals, and to make wine that is lush with rich complexity and opulent tannins.
The Sonoma County Harvest Fair Board has created Digital Medals that you can download and use to promote your award winners on your website and social media!
Click Below for a link to the Digital Medals.