Wine News
Lake County Wine Awards Competition Announces Winners
Sweepstakes, Best of Class & Gold
On July 27 – 29, 2011, a panel of expert judges
convened at Brassfield Estate Winery in Clearlake Oaks, California to
judge more than 180 Lake County wines during the Third Annual Lake
County Wine Awards Competition.
In order to qualify for the competition, wines must have a minimum of 75
per cent Lake County grapes with a Lake County AVA on the label.
Ray Johnson, Director of Sonoma State University’s Wine Business
Institute and Assistant Director of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine
Competition served as director of the competition.
“A wine competition like this one helps to shed light on the great wine
being produced in Lake County,” says Johnson. “It introduces the
consumer to a variety of wines they may not yet be aware of.”
The prestigious panel of wine experts hailed from across the country
with backgrounds spanning the breadth of the wine industry, including
winemakers, educators, and writers in both print and electronic media.
Participating in the judging were John Buechsenstein, Randy Caparoso,
Joe Roberts, Deborah Parker Wong, Shauna Rosenblum, Tina Caputo, Mike
Dunne, Martha Dunne, Don Neel, Pamela Heiligenthal, Marc Hinton,
Virginie Boone, and Clark Smith.
The judges were split into two panels, with the blind tastings
facilitated by local sommelier Stephanie Green of Focused on Wine and
Glenn McGourty, Winegrowing and Plant Science Advisor for the University
of California Cooperative Extension Offices in Lake and Mendocino
County. McGourty was assisted by sommelier Sheila Taylor of San Jose,
and local wine enthusiasts Mireya Turner and Christiane Skarada served
as scribes for the panels.
After the competition was complete, panel judge Deborah Parker Wong
remarked that Lake County wines are worthy of worldwide recognition.
“I think more people should know about the value and quality of the
wines produced here in Lake County. The wines here are certainly not
well enough known across the United States and the world,” said Wong.
All entries were blind-tasted and evaluated using a tri-level medal
system. The judges’ top picks (up to three winners per
varietal/category) will advance to the public wine judging, the People’s
Choice Wine Competition, which will take place on November 5, 2011 at
Langtry Estate & Vineyards in Middletown, California.
Award winning wines will also be featured on August 20, 2011 at the
Wines with Altitude event at The Winery SF from 1 PM – 5 PM on Treasure
Island in San Francisco. Go to www.lakecowineawards.org or
www.lakecountywineries.org for more information.
Event organizers especially wish to acknowledge Jerry Brassfield and his
staff for their hospitality and generosity in hosting the three-day
event at Brassfield Estate Winery, as well as a host of committed
volunteers who made the event possible.
The competition committee would like to recognize key sponsors who made
this event possible--the Lake County Winegrape Growers, American Ag
Credit, All American Containers and Ag Unlimited—and thank numerous wineries, businesses and
individuals for their support of the 2011 competition.
The overall Sweepstakes winner in each of the categories of white, rose,
red, and dessert wines was announced at the close of the competition.
A total of 106 wines were honored with Sweepstakes, Best of Class, Gold
or Silver medals at the close of the 2011 Lake County Wine Awards
Competition.
For complete competition results and more information on the competition
director, judges and venues at which to taste these award winning Lake
County wines, visit
www.lakecowineawards.org .
Press Releases
(November - People's Choice)
Click Here
(July)
Click Here
People’s Choice Wine
Awards event
Judging Results 11/5/11 -
Click Here
Pictures -
Click Here
