WINES MADE FROM AMADOR COUNTY GRAPES SHINE AT 2011 STATE FAIR

Wines made from Amador County grapes brought home 25 Gold Medals, including 8 Double Golds and 5 Best of California awards, from the 2011 California State Fair Wine Competition.

“This year’s 2011 competition should go down as a proud moment for all the wineries in the Sierra Foothills Appellation,” said G.M. “Pooch” Pucilowski, Head Judge of the California State Fair Wine Competition.

Eight wines from the Amador appellations (including Amador County, Shenandoah Valley, and Fiddletown) brought home Double Gold medals, while another 17 took Gold medals.

Of 27 Best of California varietal wines, 5 were made from Amador grapes. Amador County grew the best Barbera, Primitivo, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and Other Red (Touriga).

Here is another interesting observation. While Napa earned 23 Gold Medaled red wines, Sonoma earned 19, and South Central Coast (Paso Robles and Santa Barbara) earned 12. Amador County brought home 25 Gold Medals!

Comments from judges reflect the quality of this year’s entries. Peter Gamble, Wine Maker and Wine Consultant from Ontario, Canada stated firmly, “In over 25 years of my judging wines from around the world, the greatest single flight of wines I've ever had was at this year's California State Fair; over thirty of fifty wines presented in the regional finals were at the 'spectacular' level. Amazing!”

The California State Fair Wine Competition has been judging California wines since 1854. This year 2,646 wines were tasted in the traditional blind wine judging method in which wines are sorted by varietal and divided up among the 72 judges. The judges know the type of wine, but they are not told the prices of the wines, the appellation, or the winery.

Amador County is one of California’s historic grape growing regions and is home to the oldest still-producing Zinfandel vineyards. More recently, Amador County has become known for producing some of the state’s best Italian and Rhone varietals and in June, 2011 nearly 2000 Barbera aficionados converged in Amador for California’s first ever Barbera Festival.

Fittingly, an Amador County (Fiddletown AVA) wine won Best Zinfandel and an Amador County wine won Best Barbera at the huge 2011 San Francisco International Wine Competition.