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Saturday, June 28, 2008
For Immediate Release
Indianapolis, Indiana: Over 3,200 wines traveled to Indianapolis for one of the nation's largest wine competitions, the Indiana State Fair Indy International Wine Competition, June 26-28, 2008 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Wines from 15 countries as far away as , and were judged on appearance, aroma, taste, and aftertaste by 15 panels of judges. In all, 75 judges flew in from the United State and to evaluate the wines.
Conn Creek Winery of St. Helena, California was awarded the Best of Show award for its 2004 Anthology. Best white wine honors went to Penguin Bay Winery of New York for their 2007 Gewurztraminer. California 's Elements of Sonoma 2004 Malbec won best red wine. Best Rose wine was awarded to Chateau St. Croix of Wisconsin for their Wild River Rose.
The best commercial sparkling wine was awarded to Bel Lago Vineyard and Winery of Michigan for their Leelanau Brillante Sparkling Wine and Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery of Canada took the best dessert wine honors for their 2007 Minus Nine Icewine. Ackerman Winery of Iowa won best fruit wine for their Cranberry. The last two categories, best honey wine and best honey wine blend were awarded to Winter White Winery of Wisconsin and to Torrey Ridge Winery of New York, respectively.
V. Sattui Winery of St. Helena, California was awarded the International Pacesetter Trophy, sponsored by the Leisure Family. The Pacesetter Trophy honors the Best International Brand of the entire competition. V. Sattui won 4 double gold, 6 gold, seventeen silver and 6 bronze medals.
V. Sattui winery also won the Taster's Guild Trophy, honoring the winery that wins the most gold medals by brand at the competition.
The Indiana State Fair Wine Competition began in 1973 as an Indiana-only event. The competition began admitting entries from across the world in 1992 under Richard Vine, PhD. Dr. Christian Buztke took over the leadership of the competition in 2006.
"It is gratifying to see the Indy International's continued success," says Butzke, Chief Judge. "Wineries from all over the world value the medals they receive from this competition."
Indiana was well represented in the competition, with 33 of the state's 35 wineries entering. Hoosier wineries took home a total of one concordance gold medal, 34 gold, 101 silver, and 115 bronze medals.
"The Indiana wineries went head to head with wines from throughout the world and brought home 251 medals," said Jeanette Merritt, marketing director for the Indiana Wine Grape Council. "This shows that Indiana wines are of high quality and can be judged well against any wine in the world."
In only their third year of business, Mallow Run Winery of Bargersville, Indiana was awarded the Indiana Governor's Cup as the Best Indiana Winery at the competition.
The Indiana-made Wine of the Year went to Chateau Thomas Winery of Plainfield, Indiana for their 2005 CDP wine.
The Indy International has a special award division for Indiana grown wines. A wine must be composed of more than 85% Indiana grown fruit to be eligible. Huber Orchard and Winery of Starlight won for Best Indiana-grown Fruit Wine for their Razzy Apple. Oliver Winery won the French-American Wine category for their 2007 Creekbend Estate Late Harvest Vignoles. And Buck Creek Winery won Best Indiana-grown American Varietal for their Alley Cat. Chateau Pomije in Guilford won fro Indiana-grown Vinifera with a 2006 Chardonnay. All Indiana awards are sponsored by the Indianapolis Wine Enthusiasts Club or the Indiana Winegrowers Guild.
The Indy International is sponsored by the Indiana State Fair and coordinated by the Indiana Wine Grape Council. For a list of all medal-winning wines, log onto www.indyinternational.org.
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Contacts:
Jeanette Merritt, Marketing Director, Indiana Wine Grape Council, 765-496-3842, [email protected]