Monte Mitchell was Todd Hale's guest on Fair Talk this week. Monte and his wife, Bunny, have been associated with the wine judging department at the Steele County Fair for a number of years.

Wine judging has quickly grown into a very popular part of the fair. Wines will be accepted Sunday, August 13, and Monday, August 14, from 4-6PM in the Fine Arts Department. The judging will take place on the second floor of the Four Seasons on Tuesday, August 15, at 6:30PM and spectators are welcome.

I must admit I don't know much about wine. I figured it's sort of like beer, after two or three it really doesn't matter what it tastes like. But it certainly does matter when it comes to be judged at the fair.

The basic categories of wine are grape, wild fruit, fruit other, vegetable and other.

Some of the unique varieties of wine that been judged over the years include banana, blueberry, pomegranate, parsley, carrot, watermelon and even a potato wine.

Criteria used in judging include aroma, bouquet, vinegar content, acid, sugar content, appearance, color and body. Scoring is based on a possible 100 points with most winners scoring in the mid- to upper 90s.

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