This episode features a conversation with the 2024 Champion of our "Unusual Suspects" Blind Tasting Competition that was hosted by the Oenophile Institute at the beginning of August in Atlanta, GA. This was the second annual session of this competition format where we have two rounds of blind tasting flights – 3 white wines followed by 3 red wines - and then the two highest scores from each round move on to a final round to crown a winner. The wines, however, are all just on the fringe or technically not typically testable in wine certification exams, so the wines can be from basically anywhere in the world. And this year, we had to have a second bonus final round because the top four competitors all scored so evenly on the first wine – but what happened in the "final final" round was truly impressive because our 2024 Champion, Joe Herrig, basically called that wine 100% correctly to walk away with the trophy and cash prize. On this episode, you’ll hear from our winner, Joe, as he breaks down his thought process and logic for each of his calls from the competition. Joe was first on this podcast in June of 2022 (Episode 78) and he is still the Director of Education for Georiga Crown Distribution Company. He has since earned his Diploma through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, so he now holds one of the highest honors in the world of wine education. You'll hear how he approached the process of identifying these wines and how he connects his palate skills to his theory knowledge. You can follow him @suburbanwino on Instagram.

Recorded August 25, 2024