The 15th annual Idaho Wine and Cider Competition will be staged Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Koenig Vineyards — in the heart of the Snake River Valley — by Great Northwest Wine as a collaborative effort with the Idaho Wine Commission.
This judging celebrates the best of Idaho wine and cider, and the panel is a blend of winemakers, sommeliers, journalists, wine buyers and educators from throughout the country. Last year’s tasting attracted a record 214 entries.
The 2024 panel features Liz Thach, a Master of Wine, professor and author/journalist based in Sonoma; Mike Dunne, an author based in Sacramento, Calif.; Kaleigh Brook, an advanced sommelier, contributor to Great Northwest Wine and wine buyer for Thief Fine Wine & Beer in Walla Walla, Wash., Tim Donahue, winemaker/educator, Horse Thief Wine Consulting, Walla Walla; Ilene Dudunake, owner, A New Vintage Wine Shop, Meridian, Idaho; Lane Hoss, emeritus VP of operations/wine buyer of Anthony’s Restaurants, headquartered in Kirkland, Wash.; Kathryn House McClaskey, retailer/educator/journalist, House of Wine, Boise; Annie Morrison, on-premise wine/beer sales representative, Hayden Beverage Co., Boise; and Brad K. Smith, certified sommelier, retired viticulture/enology instructor, marketing consultant, CellarDoorConsultants.com; cultural specialist, Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic, Grandview, Wash.
Those providing support for this year’s Idaho Wine & Cider Competition include Core Enology Analytical Services, The Hartwell Corporation, Associated Insurance Services, Koenig Vineyards and Visit Boise. The welcome reception/dinner for judges is in downtown Boise at Anthony’s, the historic Puget Sound-based restaurant group’s second location in Idaho and one block from the judging panel’s accommodations at Hotel 43.
In 2011, Thach — pronounced “tosh” — became the first woman in California and the seventh woman in the U.S. to obtain Master of Wine distinction. She will be the first MW to judge the Idaho Wine Competition since Sheri Sauter Morano in 2017. That was the same year ciders became part of the judging.
Thach spent a portion of her childhood in Idaho when her father — the late Rod Drewien — was an ornithologist at the University of Idaho. With illustrations by her step-mother — the late Ruth Shea, an acclaimed biologist — Thach authored a children’s book set during their summers spent at Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge as part of Drewien’s renowned research of sandhill cranes. (He requested for some of his ashes to be sprinkled on the refuge.)
As part of her research prior to becoming a MW, Thach toured the Snake River Valley wine industry in 2009. In addition to leading wine education for Stanford University, she is a contributor to Forbes. Earlier this year, Thach served as the keynote speaker for WineVit, the Washington Winegrowers Association’s annual convention. She is also President of Wine Market Council, a non-profit organization that provides research on U.S. wine consumer purchasing habits, attitudes and trends. Thach is emeritus distinguished professor of Wine & Management at Sonoma State University.
For Dunne, this spring will be his fourth time judging the Gem State competition. His most recent visit was in 2018. Dunne recently authored a book — The Signature Wines of Superior California ($24.95). The retired longtime columnist for the Sacramento Bee continues to judge competitions throughout the U.S., including the San Francisco Chronicle, where he serves in a chief judge role by writing reviews of the top wines, and publishes regularly to his site — Signature Wines.
Wineries seeking to enter this year’s Idaho Wine & Cider Competition should visit this link. For cideries, here is that entry form. This spring marks the eighth year that Koenig Vineyards has staged the competition. Each year, panelists for the Idaho Wine & Cider Competition are led the day after the judging on a tour of the region by the Idaho Wine Commission.
Results from the judging are used to help promote Idaho Wine Month during June and throughout the year.
Savor Idaho, the state’s signature food and wine celebration since 2009, is scheduled for Sunday, June 9 in Boise. More than 30 wineries will be pouring across the campus of the Idaho Botanical Garden. Admission to one of the day’s two three-hour waves costs $80.
Later in the year, the commission curates special lots featuring gold medal wines and offers them at a discount as part of its “Taste Idaho Gold” program. A portion of the sales are earmarked for the Idaho Wine Education Scholarship Fund, which assists members of the Idaho wine industry with education and development. Each year, a portion of the competition’s entry fees also support the scholarship fund.
