A Dutch historic home built in 17th century style, located at Brook in Waterland, will be the setting on Saturday, April 26, 2008 for the Fourth Annual Hudson Valley Wine Competition.  The competition is open to all commercial wineries in the Hudson Valley AVA using New York State fruit, but more exclusively, Hudson Valley fruit.

This competition highlights the quality of our regions wines and the growing interest the public has for them.  The wines will be privately  judged by a panel of distinguished wine experts.  The judges included, (in alphabetical order) Bob Brink, Chris Gerling, Steven Kolpan,  Harriet Lembeck,  William Lembeck, Bill Radner, Jennifer Redmond, and Brian Smith.

Chris Gerling is Cornell's Extension Associate for Enology for New York State.  Chris is new as of mid-February.  Previously he worked as the assistant winemaker at Anthony Road Wine Company and as a technician in the Enology and Viticulture labs at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York.

Steven Kolpan is Professor of Wine Studies at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and currently holds the Charmer Sunbelt Group Endowed Chair for Wines and Spirits. Professor Kolpan is the co-author of Exploring Wine. He is also author of the book A Sense of Place; editor of Olive Oil; as well as a Contributing Editor and wine columnist for The Valley Table and a contributing author to the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. In 2007, Professor Kolpan was named Wine Educator of the Year. He joined the CIA faculty in 1986. He previously held teaching positions at the State University of New York at New Paltz; SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge, NY; and Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ.  His professional experience includes: senior producer/writer for the CIA's Learning Resources Center; sommelier and maître d'hôtel at the Depuy Canal House, in High Falls, NY; consultant, sommelier, and manager at the 1820 House, Stone Ridge, NY; wine and food consultant for the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City, and Gigi Trattoria, Rhinebeck, NY; wine and food columnist for the Wine Report, Santé, and Culinary Review; and contributing writer, The Financial Times, Fine Cooking, and Wine & Spirits magazine.

Harriet Lembeck is a noted wine and spirits educator and writer. She is President of the Wine & Spirits Program, and is the former Wine Director for The New School University. She has written the 6th and 7th editions of the textbook "Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers, and Spirits", has been a contributing editor to Wine & Spirits Magazine, and is presently a columnist for Beverage Dynamics magazine.  She is also a contributor to "The Oxford Companion­ to Wine."  She is Chairman of the NY Wine Press, and is a member of the North American Advisory Board for the Institute of Masters of Wine. She often appears on TV and radio, and frequently judges at wine and spirits competitions

Billy Rattner  has been involved professionally in wine and food as a Sommelier/Restaurant Manager, a wine writer, and a wine educator for quite a few vintages now. In his long-time role as Wine Director for the Xaviar’s Restaurant Group, Billy educates the staff and directs wine service for each property in the group and is currently developing the wine program for Peter Kelly’s much-anticipated Xaviar’s-on-the-Hudson in Yonkers, NY. The Xaviar’s Restaurant Group is comprised of some of the most renowned and acclaimed wine-destination restaurants in New York State: Xaviar's at Piermont, The Freelance Cafe & Wine Bar and Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar have all received popular praise and the industry's most coveted awards and accolades which include The New York Times’ highest rating (Extraordinary), The Mobil Travel Guide Four Star Award, The DiRoNA Award, Wine Spectator's "Best of Award of Excellence", Zagat's Survey (29 out of 30). Billy designs and manages these wine programs with an eye towards making the grape accessible and yum-inspiringly enjoyable for every level of wine drinker - from the “white zinfandel convert” to the diehard collector. He has been known to say, “Wine can be serious, wine can be fun – but it should always be seriously fun.”

Brian Smith  earned a Master’s degree in the workings of the European Union from the University of London. After several sojourns working and living and France, he followed his increasing fascination with wine by joining the London wine trade, working in the retail and importing sectors.  In 1979 he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and again worked importing European wines to that province, but found that his true avocation was teaching. In 1985, he taught in the Finger Lakes region of New York, and then took up teaching wine at the Culinary Institute of America in the Hudson River region of New York.  With his colleagues he co-authored Exploring Wine, the Culinary Institute of America’s Complete Guide to Wines of the World.  In 2003, he brought out his 2nd book, The Sommelier’s Guide to Wine.  Currently, Brian Smith is now working on the final stages of a consumer oriented book tiltled WineWise, due to be published in 2008.  Pursuing his other European interests, Brian also teaches the Culinary Institute’s Bachelor’s level course on the History & Cultures of Europe.

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Thank You to our judges....from HVWGA