I am sure you are all busy preparing to vote in the upcoming election, but here at My Wine Tribe, we have been pondering issues larger than who will be the leader of the free world. Rather, we are thinking about red state versus blue state wines.

Blue state wines get all the love (and distribution), but there are some mighty fine wines coming from the red states too. So for the greater good of the populace, we staged a showdown: two red state wines (Arizona and Montana) went head to head with two similar varietals from blue states (California and Washington).

The results will shock you! But first let me tell you how these wines were chosen.

I rolled into Esquin, my favorite Seattle wine emporium, and quickly inspired a lot of head scratching when I asked for some wines from Texas and Idaho. In my mind these were the two red states most likely to have distribution in Washington, but I was wrong. Esquin didn’t carry any Texas or Idaho labels. Jeff, Esquin’s head buyer, didn’t think the store carried any red state wines at all. But when I started rattling off every red state I could think of (thank you, Wikipedia), he remembered the Arizona and Montana blends. Then he found me some matching blue state wines (same varietals and price points), and I was on my way.

In the first round Copain 2010 Syrah from Mendocino County, CA went up against the Arizona Stronghold Nachise 2010, a Syrah blend. Both wines sell for $23.99 and the Arizona entrant was the clear winner. While there was a hint of barnyard in the nose, most people got apples, caramel, pine and, my favorite descriptor, “Christmas at Grandma’s house.” The tribes used leather, steel, apple and sugar cookies to describe the taste.

Round 2 pitted O’Shea Scarborough 2008 “Midnight, a Washington State red blend, against Montana’s Ten Spoon Range Rider. The Range Rider was a blend of red grapes that I was unfamiliar with, including Marechal Foch, Frontenac, St Criox and Leon Millot, and it was organic and sulfate free, meaning no funky chemicals.

Anywho, the interesting thing is that the Accessible Tribe LOVED the Montana blend. The Balanced Tribe liked it okay. The Developed and Complex tribes HATED it. If you are in the Accessible Tribe this is the wine for you, light and drinkable with a hint of spice. albeit a bit tart. Overall, there was not a lot of love for the O’Shea Scarborough. I wouldn’t recommend it and, unless you’re an Accessible, I wouldn’t recommend the Range Rider either. Lots of folks found it off putting.

So who is the big winner here? Arizona! So try out some of those red state wines, and for those of you living in red states, send us your recommendations.

Happy election season, people. Cheers!

ps: After writing this post I found an interesting article in Sunset Magazine with the results of their 2012 International Wine Competition. Guess what? The Arizona Stronghold winery made a very strong showing with Silver Medals for their 2010 Mandala white table wine, their 2010 Dala Cabernet Sauvignon and their 2010 Site Archive Syrah AND they got a gold for their 2010 Tazi white wine described as ” a seamlessly blended melange of citrus flavors, fragrant white flowers and rose petals with a brisk punch on the finish.”

Other Red state wines that scored gold medals were the 2011 Pedernales Viognier from Texas and the James Arthur NV “2 Brothers” white table wine from Nebraska. Just goes to show that there are lots of great options out there.

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