So, the Jefferson Cup is ending. Is that newsworthy enough to be in this magazine? I’m not sure, but it has the capacity to affect Missouri wine in some way. For more than 20 years, the Jefferson Cup Invitational Wine Competition has gathered nearly two dozen wine judges from around the country, many of them master sommeliers or masters of wine, and other really good professional tasters, to taste American wines. By proximity, Missouri wines have been well represented. I am proud that the Jefferson Cup brought exposure to winemakers, but the event has simply run its course.
When I founded the competition in 2000 and carrying through to 2022, the Jefferson Cup was a forum for wines from places other than the famous ones, and grapes other than the well-known ones. The Jeff Cup was created to give a place at the table to wines that many people ignore.
That is changing. The iron grip that the dominant grapes (Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, etc.) have had on the American palate is loosening; maybe it’s already broken. While more than 90 percent of American wines still come from California, a younger generation is demanding a different flavor.
The nation’s youth, fixated upon making the world better, have been misled into adopting so-called natural wines when the most planet-friendly purchase is local wines. They know this about foodstuffs; why have they missed the message about wine? Blame the wine industry. The kids told us they wanted to drink something other than the wines of their parents or grandparents—Napa Cab is so 20th century. The kids want something to call their own and we haven’t listened well enough. (Do we ever?) Their need for new is understandable, and their options are plentiful. They can buy cocktails made from whiskies distilled only miles from them, mixed with kombucha or whatever else trips their palates. They have turned the diversity of beer into a hundred versions of the same IPA.
The Jefferson Cup showed that there are other grapes and places. Now, we are thinking about the next step. How can we keep on telling the story of Midwestern grapes? There is an entire generation or two of wine consumers who don’t really think in terms of Cabernet or Chardonnay. They don’t care that it’s made from a grape they might not know or a place they didn’t know made wine. Is it good?
Yes, it’s good. Missouri winemakers, this is the time to tell people the truth about your wine and how you and your family have sacrificed so much to create a beverage that speaks of flavor, place, and history. Consumers, this is when you go someplace nearby
and ask them to pour you something delicious from a Missouri winery. How hard could that be? You don’t need the Jefferson Cup to tell you that.
2022 Jefferson Cup-Winning Missouri Wines
Adam Puchta Winery Chardonel (2021)
Adam Puchta Winery Traminette (2021)
Adam Puchta Winery Hunter’s Red (nv)
Les Bourgeois Vineyards Jeunette Rouge (nv)
Noboleis Vineyards Norton (2019)
Stone Hill Winery Norton (2019)
Stone Hill Winery Cream Sherry (nv)
nv = non-vintage
Find lists of all Jefferson Cup winners since 2000 at
TheJeffersonCup.com.
Doug is both a Master of Wine and Master Sommelier, one of only three in the world to achieve both titles. He lives in Kansas City.
This article was originally published in the May 2023 edition of Missouri Life.
