In the battle of the grapes, Richard Dreger has proven he can hold his own.

The Batavia resident recently won the amateur division of Geja’s Cafe’s 35th annual Professional/Amateur Contest in Chicago, the longest running wine-tasting contest in the United States.

“Winning this type of wine contest requires not only a great palate, but a vast wine knowledge,” said Geja’s proprietor, John Davis. For his win, Dreger was presented with the crystal decanter.

Dreger and his wife, Dana LaSalle, both retired teachers from St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, have been competing in wine-tasting contests for 25 years, and belong to three different wine-tasting groups. 

How did you into wine-tasting?
I had a frat brother in college who married a lady whose father was very involved in wine, so my friend got interested in it. He lived in California and when I went out to visit him we went to the wineries. This was the mid-1970s, before wineries were even a big deal. I tasted the wines and I liked them. Then I met my wife and we got involved in wine-tasting together.

How do you prepare?
Practice a lot. We’re in different wine-tasting groups — two of which are brown baggers, where everybody brings a bottle in a brown paper bag and we try to guess what it is. ... Another thing about the brown bag groups is they show that less expensive wines can be pretty good. If you look at a price tag on a label, psychologically it’s going to play on your mind .... If it’s in a brown paper bag, you don’t know what’s there and you go with what you like.

How are contests run?
There are four red wines and four white wines. The wine is served in decanters because the shape of the bottles can tip you off as to what the wine might be. You have to guess the grape variety, the country of origin, the region in the country, the sub-region within the region and the grape variety. It gets a little complicated. There is bread and water between tastes.

What’s your favorite wine, and why?
Red Bordeaux. There are so many nuances of flavors. If you put me on a desert island and I only had one wine I could take with, that’s the one I’d want with me.