2010 HHIWF Competition Results

One thing that stands out about Hilton Head Island’s wine enthusiasts is that they represent a broad spectrum of individuals. In 2010 the Hilton Head Island Wine and Food festival provides two unique opportunities to capture a Southeast market perspective.

International Wine Competition, February 6-7, 2010
While many wine and food festivals are produced in the United States, the Hilton Head Island Wine & Food Festival is one of only a few that incorporates an international competition as part of its activities. In 2007, the competition began to cross marketing with several other national competitions in an effort to attract attention to the island’s vast wine interests and to make a statement about the attributes of the Southeast wine market. In 2010 the competition clearly reflects a profile of the local hospitality industry’s wine knowledge at the front line in judging and in its back room operations during competition. These Lowcountry experts and Southeast professionals convened at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort for two days in February to award Best of Show status in the Bubbly, White, Red, Value White and Value Red categories as well as to present gold, silver and bronze awards as appropriate for the competition’s wine entrants. These awards will post publicly on February 9th at www.hiltonheadislandwineandfood.com.

Consumer Judging, March 13, 2010
Hilton Head Island also encompasses an array of wine enthusiasts whose palates provide an excellent consumer-oriented view point on wine. In fact, these native palates provide invaluable commentary for the competition’s wine entrants seeking both an industry and consumer driven opinion on their wines. In 2010, the silver anniversary of the festival, the festival’s founding members have been asked to serve as judges for the consumer wine competition held on site at the island’s Public Tasting and Auction, March 13th. It is the early efforts of many of these “founders” twenty five years ago that led to what we now know as the island’s Wine and Food Festival, a premier series of wine and food events hosted on Hilton Head Island in March each year.

Head Judge: Rebecca Murphy
Back Room Manager: Jenn Hummel (USC Beaufort Intern)
Event Assistant: Britney Allton (USC Beaufort Intern)
Competition Team Leader: Jeff Gerber, Aqua Grille and Lounge
Producer: Ann Marie Adams

Judging Table 1
Peg San Felippo (HEAD) Wine Journalist, Florida/California
Emily Bane, CWE Field Sales Manager-Charleston, Ben Arnold-Sunbelt, Charleston, SC
Charlie Greer Founder, Hilton Head Island International Judging and Competition, Palm Coast, FL
Bob Prust Robert Prust Wine & Spirits Shop, Hilton Head Island, SC
Rick Rubel Wine Director, Charleston Place, Charleston, SC

Panel 1
Camille Copeland Rollers (Panel Director)
Chris Tassone AXA
Richard Esack NC volunteer
Bob Hohman HHHA Board

Judging Table 2
Barbara Ensrud (HEAD) Freelance Writer, Durham, NC
Joshua Brett SE Regional Sales, Michael David Winery, Dunwoody, GA
Karen Hayes SE Region Mgr, San Giuseppe, Hilton Head Island, SC
Maximilian Kast Wine Director, Fearrington House Restaurant, Relais and Chateaux, Chapel Hill, NC

Panel 2
Chris Cunningham Lowrey Group (Panel Director)
Anne Esack NC volunteer
James Hill HHI volunteer
Ken Nason Westin HHI Resort/HHH

Judging Table 3
Bob Paulinski (HEAD) MW Category Director – Wine/Spirits/Beer, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Jacksonville, FL
Scott Cohen Grapevine Distributors, Mount Pleasant, SC
Elizabeth Cooper Southeastern Brand Manager, DS Trading/Premium Brands Inc, Wilmington, NC
Tom Hines, Trinchero Family Estates, Hilton Head Island, SC

Panel 3
Scott Entrup Crown Plaza (Panel Director)
Glenn Harvey Grapevine
Brad Hunter Aleph
Angela Anderson AIWF

Judging Table 4
Max Vater (HEAD), Regional Sales, SE US Alexander Valley, Jacksonville, FL
Craig Locascio, Supervising Director National Education Programs Charmer Sunbelt Group
Terrence Polcari, F&B Director, Sommelier, Hampton Hall, Bluffton, SC
Ashleigh Whitmore, Event Planning Director, Hampton Hall, Bluffton, SC

Panel 4
Kevin Meredith Tide-Pointe (Panel Director)
Tami Bream Equity Payment
Emily Halsey Holyoak Grassroots Distributors

Over the course of 35 years, Rebecca Murphy has risen from being the first female wine steward in Texas, to forming her own consulting firm, Vintage Productions, to becoming an accredited writer of wine related articles as diverse as profiles of wine industry superstars, to equipment reviews.
She is also well known in industry circles for founding several of the country’s most successful and long-lived wine competitions. She is the founder and producer of The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition.
Beside her competition interests and weekly feature in the Dallas Morning News, Murphy’s regular writing assignments include articles for winereviewonline.com, Wine Business Monthly, Northwest Palate, and Wines & Vines. She has also contributed to the third edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine and the sixth edition of The World Atlas of Wine.
She also continues to develop seminars, wine tastings and dinners to educate consumers and members of the trade on all aspects of wine production, tasting and enjoyment. Murphy is a sought after professional wine judge herself and a regular participant at the Decanter World Wine Awards and International Wine Challenge in London, the Brussels-based Concours Mondial, Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition sponsored by the LA County Fair and Critics Challenge in San Diego.

The backroom Staff are the people who make the judging happen. The job of a backroom volunteer is demanding, physically as well as mentally.
The judges are served and supported by panel members, four per judging panel. Three staff members work primarily in the backroom to pour the wines for each flight, serve each flight of wines to the judges and remove glasses from previous flight and return them to the backroom. The fourth staff person is the Panel Director (PD) responsible for ensuring the timely service of wines from the backroom and facilitating the judging process among the judges.
The Backroom Staff is supervised by a Backroom Manager, Jeff Gerber, who will oversee the Help Desk and work with the Backroom Staff and Organizers to troubleshoot problems and assist in the progress of the competition. He is assisted by Tami Bream.

The Organizers include Ann-Marie Adams, HHHA producer; Rebecca Murphy, head judge; and Jill Banks, HHHA event logistics.