Northwest Wine and Food Festival News 2005

Meet, Mingle, Dine With Wine Judges

• Meet and dine with esteemed judges who participated in this year’s judging
• Taste all wines entered in the competition, enjoy them with your meal
• Savor the elegant dinner created by the Woodmark Hotel to pair with our wines
• Be present when the 2005 award-winning wines are announced
• Buy advance reservations now with PayPal.

Expansive Wine Expertise Is The Essence Of Our Judging Panel

Each year five new experts are selected as a team of judges for our Northwest Festival wine competition. They are chosen for their world-wise wine knowledge, experienced palates and distinguished accomplishments in specific wine disciplines. Over a two-day period, in a series of flights, they evaluate the overall character and quality of every wine entered. Here is the panel who will determine this year’s award winners.

Sensory scientist Dr. Hildegarde Heymann holds a master’s in food science, and a doctorate in agricultural and environmental chemistry, both from the University of California at Davis. In January 2003 she joined the U.C. Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology where she teaches courses such as Sensory Evaluation of Wines and Introduction to Winemaking. Dr. Heymann has produced more than 60 publications and is co-author of Sensory Evaluation of Foods: Principles and Practices, currently the definitive such textbook worldwide. She has presented workshops and short courses on sensory science in South Africa, Finland, New Zealand and the United States. Among her many accolades is the 2004 American Society of Enology and Viticulture Honorary Research Lecturer award.

Sabato D. Sagaria III holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and is recognized as a certified sommelier by The Court of Master Sommeliers, the industry’s most respected guild of wine service professionals. Joining the staff of the world-famous Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in 1997 as a management trainee, he has worked in all of their restaurants. He was promoted to assistant manager and then restaurant manager of Sam Snead’s at the Golf Club. At age 23 Sabato was named beverage director and sommelier of the Greenbrier Sporting Club, the youngest person ever in this position in the 226 year history of the resort. His innovative approach and redesign of their cigar program was featured in the December 1999 Santé magazine.

Michael Franz is a wine writer, educator and consultant. He has been wine columnist for The Washington Post since 1994 and is also a columnist for France Magazine, editor of Wine Review Online, and a contributor to several international wine magazines. He conducts tastings and seminars for consumers and members of the wine trade throughout the United States and consults for 11 restaurants. Michael writes about all wine regions and has conducted more than 800 site visits and tastings at wineries across Western and Eastern Europe, South America, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Mark Savage, originally from Kampala, Uganda, currently resides in Cotswolds in the United Kingdom. He earned a master’s in the classics at University College Oxford, where he is president of the University Wine Circle and a member of their wine tasting team. A Vintners Scholar in 1975, he passed the rigorous exams to become a Master of Wine in 1980. Director of the first International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon, Mark also has served as a judge at the Oregon State Fair, London International Wine Challenge, and a past Northwest Wine Festival competition. Chief executive officer of the U.K. wine import company Savage Selection Ltd., he is also a partner in Masseron & Savage in Paris, France. Which?Wine Guide named him 1991 North American Wine Merchant of the Year.

Dennis Martin has a master’s in enology and food science and a degree in agricultural business, both from California State University at Fresno. He worked at United Vintners as cellar supervisor and winemaker for their white and sparkling wines until 1981 when he became sales enologist at the Scott Labs winery supply company. In 1985 Fetzer Vineyards wine master Paul Dolan selected Dennis as his assistant, a duo that wine writer Dan Berger proclaimed “winemaking team of the year” in a 1991 Los Angeles Times article. In 1992 Dennis was named director of winemaking when Brown-Forman acquired Fetzer. He rose to the position of vice president of winemaking for all Fetzer wines and currently oversees winemaking for all Brown-Forman wines.

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