San Joaquin County winemakers scored a fistful of top awards at the California State Fair Commercial Wine competition this week.
Those included regional awards for Best of Lodi White won by Vino Con Brio of Lodi and, somewhat surprisingly, Best of North Coast Red won by Michael-David Winery in Lodi.
In the Best of California varietal awards Lodi vintner Harmony Wynelands took the title for Best Rhone Red Blend and McManis Family Vineyards in Ripon was named the Best Viognier (rated double gold, 98 score) with a wine crafted to sell for $10 a bottle.
More online
For a full list of California State Fair Commercial Wine winners, visit www.bigfun.org/competition-wine.php
Mike Phillips, co-owner of Michael-David, admitted his winery may have stepped on a few toes by winning the North Coast prize with its 2007 Sloth Zinfandel Mendocino County.
"They grow good grapes," he said of the famed North Coast wine region. "We just know how to make the wine. It's just a credit to our winemakers and our winery."
Sloth is the third and latest sin-themed reserve wine, priced at $59, from a winery whose most popular brand is 7 Deadly Zins. It previously released Lust Zinfandel and Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon.
"I love that name," Phillips said of the brand. "Sloth was always one of my top sins I wanted to get to."
Vino Con Brio's winner is its 2009 Brillante, an estate bottled white blend from the winery's Amorosa vineyard.
"The Amorosa vineyard is just a great spot for white grapes, and here we are with some proof," said Anne Matson Khasigian, winery manager.
The winning blend, with a suggested price of $16 a bottle, is primarily viognier with roussanne, pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. While initially designed as a Rhone-only blend, Matson Khasigian said the pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc provide a bit more acid and mineral quality to the finished wine.
At Harmony Wynelands (just a couple of stone's throws down Lodi's Harney Lane from Vino Con Brio) co-owner Robert Hartzell said the inspiration for his state fair winner, the 2007 GMA Proprieter's Reserve, came from a stop in Tasmania while on a wine cruise to Australia and New Zealand.
"Most of the folks were buying New Zealand pinot noirs. I saw in the wine rack something I never saw before, GSM, which stands for grenache, syrah and mourvedre," he said.
Shared among other travelers at dinner that night, Harzell recalled, "it was a big hit."
So he brought home a few bottles of GSM.
The winery's winemaker ultimately dropped syrah in favor of alicante bouschet, resulting in Harmony's GMA blend, priced at $30 a bottle.
"It was us getting creative, I'd guess you would say," Hartzell said.
California's best viognier, at least according to the state fair judges, is a wine crafted to sell for $10 a bottle, like most wines from McManis Family Vineyard in Ripon.
"We were pretty excited about that," said Jamie McManis, vice-president and co-owner about the state fair prize.
Grapes for the 2009 McManis Family Vineyard Viognier were all grown in the winery's own vineyards in the River Junction appellation, at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers.
Ron McManis, president, co-owner and Jamie McManis's husband, credited the prize-winning quality to a team effort: "the care of the people we have out in the vineyard taking care of the grapes as well as the winemaking team here at the winery."
Those included regional awards for Best of Lodi White won by Vino Con Brio of Lodi and, somewhat surprisingly, Best of North Coast Red won by Michael-David Winery in Lodi.
In the Best of California varietal awards Lodi vintner Harmony Wynelands took the title for Best Rhone Red Blend and McManis Family Vineyards in Ripon was named the Best Viognier (rated double gold, 98 score) with a wine crafted to sell for $10 a bottle.
More online
For a full list of California State Fair Commercial Wine winners, visit www.bigfun.org/competition-wine.php
Mike Phillips, co-owner of Michael-David, admitted his winery may have stepped on a few toes by winning the North Coast prize with its 2007 Sloth Zinfandel Mendocino County.
"They grow good grapes," he said of the famed North Coast wine region. "We just know how to make the wine. It's just a credit to our winemakers and our winery."
Sloth is the third and latest sin-themed reserve wine, priced at $59, from a winery whose most popular brand is 7 Deadly Zins. It previously released Lust Zinfandel and Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon.
"I love that name," Phillips said of the brand. "Sloth was always one of my top sins I wanted to get to."
Vino Con Brio's winner is its 2009 Brillante, an estate bottled white blend from the winery's Amorosa vineyard.
"The Amorosa vineyard is just a great spot for white grapes, and here we are with some proof," said Anne Matson Khasigian, winery manager.
The winning blend, with a suggested price of $16 a bottle, is primarily viognier with roussanne, pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. While initially designed as a Rhone-only blend, Matson Khasigian said the pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc provide a bit more acid and mineral quality to the finished wine.
At Harmony Wynelands (just a couple of stone's throws down Lodi's Harney Lane from Vino Con Brio) co-owner Robert Hartzell said the inspiration for his state fair winner, the 2007 GMA Proprieter's Reserve, came from a stop in Tasmania while on a wine cruise to Australia and New Zealand.
"Most of the folks were buying New Zealand pinot noirs. I saw in the wine rack something I never saw before, GSM, which stands for grenache, syrah and mourvedre," he said.
Shared among other travelers at dinner that night, Harzell recalled, "it was a big hit."
So he brought home a few bottles of GSM.
The winery's winemaker ultimately dropped syrah in favor of alicante bouschet, resulting in Harmony's GMA blend, priced at $30 a bottle.
"It was us getting creative, I'd guess you would say," Hartzell said.
California's best viognier, at least according to the state fair judges, is a wine crafted to sell for $10 a bottle, like most wines from McManis Family Vineyard in Ripon.
"We were pretty excited about that," said Jamie McManis, vice-president and co-owner about the state fair prize.
Grapes for the 2009 McManis Family Vineyard Viognier were all grown in the winery's own vineyards in the River Junction appellation, at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers.
Ron McManis, president, co-owner and Jamie McManis's husband, credited the prize-winning quality to a team effort: "the care of the people we have out in the vineyard taking care of the grapes as well as the winemaking team here at the winery."
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