Like I said, I’m marooned in the desert these days, so why not whine about the politics of Arizona wine?

The award recipients from the 2015 edition of the Arizona Republic Wine Competition were announced recently. Wanna see the whole list? Go to azcentral.com, search for “2015 Arizona Republic Wine Competition” and prepare to suspend disbelief.

Do I really need to know some goofy rocker-turned-winemaker owned the grapes used by the winemaker to turn out this year’s top pick? No. While I am thrilled to see Malvasia Bianca getting some well-deserved recognition as a grape ideally-suited to the growing conditions in the state, let’s not name drop to generate clicks, OK?

Oh yeah, while I’m at it, I wonder how  much influence was exerted by proponents of the arcane three-tier distribution model being so desperately clung to in this state?  How many of the award recipients – I hesitate to call them winners – are distributed by Southern Wine & Spirits or by Hensley?

Self-distribution means more of those hard-earned dollars invested by the producer remain in the producer’s pocket, not the pocket of some clown running around town pitching whatever heavily-promoted swill du jour gets them a bigger paycheck.  But, if you are a producer attempting to survive via self-distribution, ask yourself how likely is it your labor of love going to end up on the table at an event like this one?  My guess?  Not likely, not likely at all…

Hey everyone, here’s an experiment!  …go hit the restaurants who had staffers quaffing wines at Tarbell’s on October 26th and compare their picks to the wine list at their own establishment.  I’m betting there will be significant overlap.  Quid pro quo.  I dunno…