Since last year's Clash, I tasted extensively of Ohio wine. I purchased wines from retail, visited wineries, attended Vintage Ohio and other events. Many of my tasting notes and impressions are available on my blog. I also sourced Michigan wines during visits to that state. During the year I also ran several tasting events like Ohio vs World to get alternative assessments of the wines from Ohio as well as Michigan wines. As the Clash approached, I held blind-tasting sessions to narrow down the Ohio selections and also ensure that my palate was not the sole arbiter. I also used independent ratings like the Ohio Quality Wine program and Ohio Wine Competition. With Michigan, I relied on the assessments from events like the Michigan Wine and Spirits competition as well as the tasting impressions from others whose acumen I respected. Lastly, I tried to strike a balance between what could be considered the truly best wines from each state (which get snatched up quickly and are not available) and wines which will be accessible to consumers reading the results of the Clash. The absolute limitation has been and will always be that the wines come from grapes grown in their respective states. It is an over a year-long process (I've already tasted some wines in contention for Clash '10.) Simply put, entrance into the Clash is a mark of quality.

 

 

 Over the course of the year, when I've found wines which were viable contenders I have purchased four bottles for the Clash. As time approached, I worked with Joel Goldberg of MichWines.com and solicited donations of particular Michigan wines. Recognizing that with small production wineries a donation is not always a viable option, I worked with wineries to either pay full price or a negotiated price. Many of the wineries in Michigan were extraordinarily generous and helpful. Other wines were purchased directly at retail or from the wineries with no divulgence of intent. Obtaining four bottles of each wine was essential to ensure there was a backup bottle in each venue in case of issues like cork taint.  As much as possible, I tried to mix up where the wines were obtained to as closely as possible replicate what a consumer would experience. With the exception of judges like Joel who aided in procuring the wines, the judges had no knowledge of how the wines were obtained or the retailing pricing.

 

 

I assembled two panels, Ann Arbor and Columbus. In each venue, the wines were arranged in flights of White/Rosé, Red and Dessert. The wines were served blind in sets of five. A different ordering within the flights was used at each venue to help guard against positional bias. Except for isolating the sole rosé this year at the beginning or end of the White/Rosé flight, a random number generator was used. All wines were served blind to the judges in identical glasses. I tasted all wines before pouring to help screen for issues like cork taint, but any judge was free to call for a replacement bottle which would be for all judges. Each wine was judged on a 20 pt scale. Judges also took notes on each wine. After all the judges completed tasting the wines, a brief discussion occurred after which the judges ranked the wines within the flight. Judges could also re-taste wines at this time. After all the flights were completed, the judges ranked their top 3 wines across the entire tasting. 

 

 

The primary factor for determining a winner was the final ordinal ranking all judges completed at the end of the tasting. A first place vote was worth 3 pts, second place was worth 2 pts and a third place was worth 1 pt. The goal was to reward wines which showed themselves above and beyond the others. The vote totals were summed in order to determine a winner for that venue. In order that each state have equal voice, the point total was divided by the total number of voters at that venue. This gave a normed score for each venue which were then combined to determine the overall score. The average point score (averaged between venues) was a continuity check and tie-breaker. The wines were ranked according to their overall score. Wines below rank 14 received no votes in the final ranking and are listed according to point score.