Published in the February 4-17, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Cindy Adams
Cindy Adams
Movie and television stars aren’t the only ones receiving awards right now — it’s “award season” in the wine world too. This “season” will last until early summer with various groups and state and county fairs offering gold, silver and bronze-place medals to America’s best wines.
The first of these contests — the “Golden Globes” of the wine world, if you will – is the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. This is the largest competition of American wines in the world. This year, the wine contest celebrated its 16th anniversary by breaking its record, receiving 6,417 wines from 28 different states.
Out of all those entries, our own Santa Clara Valley submitted 88 wines, representing 12 different local wineries. Of those, our AVA garnered two best of class awards, four double golds and countless gold, silver and bronze medals.
The wines submitted from our area ranged in varietal from light whites such as Viogniers and Sauvignon Blancs to the heavy reds such as Malbecs and Petite Sirahs.
Two local wineries have the distinction of receiving best of class medals. J. Lohr’s 2011 Cuvee St. E, a Bordeaux blend, received best of class in the red wine category and Martin Ranch was awarded best of class in the Malbec category for its 2012 Therese Vineyards Santa Clara County Malbec. Double golds were awarded to Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards for its 2011 Cabernet Franc, and J. Lohr took three of these medals home for the 2013 Flume Crossing Sauvignon Blanc, 2012 Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon and 2012 Carol’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.
Several of our local wineries won coveted gold medals. Some of these include Kirigin Cellars 2012 Santa Clara Valley Zinfandel, Sarah’s Vineyard 2011 Santa Clara Valley Code de Madonne Red (a lovely Rhone blend), Sycamore Creek 2012 Flagship Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Satori Cellars 2011 Santa Clara Valley Petite Sirah. Many silver and bronze medals were awarded, which is an honor as well. Be sure to stop by any of our local wineries and taste these award winning wines.
A great time to stop at some local wineries is Saturday, Feb. 7, when the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley present the 2nd Annual Barrel Tasting Day. If you’ve tasted wines out of the barrel, you know how delicious they can be.
This is also a good time to taste new vintages to get an idea of what you might be sampling in tasting rooms a year or two from now. Some wineries will even be offering “futures” for sale, where you can purchase in advance the wine you’ll be tasting out of the barrel. You pay for your wine when you order it, usually at a lower price than it will be when it gets in the bottle, then you pick it up when it is released by the winery.
Barrel tasting tickets are $20 each and allow you to barrel sample from 13 different wineries. These tickets are available in advance or on the day of the event at any of the participating wineries.
In general, this is a great time of year to visit our local wineries. The crowds are gone, the vineyards are lovely and many wineries have fabulous weekend events for you.
On Feb. 7 and 8, Solis Winery is hosting its annual Wine & Chocolate event. Taste the winery’s rich, red wines paired with yummy chocolates.
Visit Guglielmo Winery Saturday, Feb. 21, and bottle your own red wine blend for only $6 per bottle. This quarterly event is very popular and well attended and you’ll come away with a delicious red blend that you can brag to your friends you bottled yourself.
By the way, Guglielmo Winery is celebrating 90 years as a bonded winery, in the same location, and in the same family.
On Friday evening, Feb. 28, visit Clos LaChance to enjoy live music and dancing at their After Hours Dance Party.
There’s a lot of fun stuff to do in our Santa Clara Valley wine country, so follow the Wine Trail and visit our local wineries. You can find event details and other information at www.SantaClaraWines.com.
Cindy Adams, CS, CSW, is the director of retail operations at Guglielmo Winery.
