Des Moines Register, IA
06-21-07
Ankeny to host first Midwest wine competition
Register Staff
Commercial wineries from 11 Midwest states have been invited to participate in
the first Mid-American Wine Competition.
The event will be held July 14 and 15 at Des Moines Area Community College’s
Ankeny campus in conjunction with Swine, a new festival that will showcase Iowa
chefs, wineries and pork producers.
The competition will be open only to commercial wineries of North Dakota, South
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri Wisconsin, Illinois,
Indiana, and Kentucky.
The chief judge for the Mid-American Wine Competition will be noted wine expert
and veteran wine judge, Doug Frost of Kansas City.
Frost is one of the few people in the world to earn the title of both Master of Wine
and Master Sommelier.
Frost has told organizers that while many American wine competitions are open
to the wines of the Midwest, no competition focuses primarily on these wines.
The competition director will be Bob Foster, founder and first director of the San
Diego National Competition. Foster has been a wine judge and competition
director for over 25 years and also directs the Temecula Valley Wine Competition
in California.
Dr. Murli Dharmadhikari, Iowa State University Extension enologist will be a
technical adviser to the competition.
The judging panel will also include Dr. Richard Peterson, famed California
winemaker and one of the most respected of the California wine judges.
For Peterson coming to judge in Iowa brings him full circle. He was born and
raised in Iowa. He made his first wine from Concord grapes on the family farm
near the location of the wine competition.
He is also a long time wine judge for the Missouri State Fair Wine Competition
and the Jefferson Cup Wine Competition held each year in Kansas City.
All bonded wineries in the Midwest region have been invited to enter