Walters had a hand in two Best of Class trophies and eight Gold medal wines for four different wineries. Traminette and Frontenac hybrids snagged the trophies in two classes typically won by European (Vinifera) grapes, while whites from the 2007 vintage took half of all Gold and Double Gold medals awarded.
{xtypo_alert}
COMPETITION'S TOP WINES:
DRY WHITE: 2007 Chateau Fontaine White Riesling
SEMI-DRY WHITE: 2007 St. Julian Traminette, Braganini Reserve
DRY RED: 2007 Longview Rustic Red
DESSERT: 2007 Brys Estate "Dry Ice" Riesling Ice Wine
FRUIT: Mackinaw Trail Razz Berry
JUDGES' SPECIAL AWARD: 2007 Bowers Harbor Pinot Noir Rose
SPARKLING: No Best of Class, by vote of the judges
SEMI-DRY RED: No Best of Class, due to no Gold Medals awarded
View or download the full medal winner list here.
Editor's Blog: Competition judges felt especially feisty this year
Editor's Blog: We gave out HOW MANY medals?{/xtypo_alert}
Judges awarded medals to 73% of the wines entered in the Competiton
(254 of 346). These included eight Double Gold (2%) and 39 Gold (11%).
Silver accounted for an additional 111 wines (32%) and 96 wines (28%)
took Bronze. Leelanau Peninsula's Chateau Fontaine minted the most Gold, with five medals; no other winery took more than three.
Two wines from hybrid grapes bested the pack in categories that usually see Vinifera winners. St. Julian took Best Semi-Dry White for its 2007 Braganini Reserve Traminette, a hybrid version of Gewurztraminer. And Longview's 2007 Rustic Red -- made from 100% Frontenac grown on Leelanau Peninsula -- won Best Dry Red.
Old Mission's Brys Estate took top prize in the Dessert category for its "Dry Ice" Riesling Ice Wine, so named because the wine's residual sugar content (6.8%) is less than half that of most Ice Wines, while Mackinaw Trail took the Fruit class with its Razz Berry dessert wine.
No trophy was awarded in the Sparkling or Semi-Dry Red classes. Semi-Dry Reds earned no Gold Medals, while judges voted against awarding a Best of Class Sparkling from among the three eligible wines
Shawn Walters earned two of his eight Gold and Double Gold medals for his base of operations, Leelanau Peninsula's new Forty-Five North Winery. Wines he made for Chateau Fontaine earned two more, including the Best of Class Dry 2007 White Riesling. Longview, where he's Consulting Winemaker for owner Alan Eaker, grabbed three more Gold, along with the Best of Class Dry Red for their 2007 Rustic Red. Walters took his final Gold for a Michigan Riesling made for California's Jana Winery, owned by Riesling master Scott Harvey.
_________________________________________
To keep things running smoothly at the Competition, more than 2000 glasses of wine need to be pre-poured and arrive exactly on time in front of 24 judges at six tables. It's a monumental task that required over a dozen volunteers and staff. Here's a glimpse behind the scenes at some of the people and activities powering the Competition.
CH. MARGAUX: SCREWCAPS BETTER THAN CORK?
Early results from an experiment by Chateau Margaux's Paul Pontallier indicate that screwcaps may age red wine better than natural cork -- plus eliminate any risk of corked bottles, as reported in The Drinks Business.
ROUGH YEAR FOR MICHIGAN ICE WINE
The 2011-2 mild weather was healthy for Michigan's vineyards, but it's played havoc with state winemakers who leave grapes on the vine in hopes that they'll freeze for the production of icewine, reports AP writer John Flesher.
Recently-deceased Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was a wine geek (and reputed alcoholic) with a 10,000-bottle cellar, according to ex-Slate wine columnist Mike Steinberger. Kim earlier gave up Hennessy Cognac on doctor's orders.
RISING TEMPS IMPACT WINE REGIONS
Warming climate may help cooler grape-growing regions -- like England -- but could damage places like Napa, writes jounalist John McQuaid in Yale's environmental magazine.
HOW COLD CLIMATE WINE REGIONS SUCCEED
Western Farm Press reports that Cornell Prof Miguel Gomez is studying how smaller wineries can jointly create a successful cool-climate wine region. He'll look at emerging areas in Michigan, New York and Missouri.
Here's one for some Michigan entrepreneur to try! A just-opened Long Island outlet mall store will sell nothing but New York State wines. Starting inventory at Empire State Cellars: 400 labels from 150 wineries.
Want a refresher about Michigan wine history and potential? Get a quick two page cheat-sheet by Layne Cameron in Western Farm Press, and make some allowances for the MSU-centricity (the author's employer).
Links to wine news from Michigan and elsewhere. Use the Contact Form to let us know what should be here.
| Berrien Springs |  |
51°F |
| Fennville | |
54°F |
| Grass Lake | |
54°F |
| Suttons Bay |  |
53°F |
| Old Mission | |
53°F |
Saline's tiny Spotted Dog Winery makes kit wines of no great distinction -- but gets more publicity and better distribution than most Michigan wineries its size. The secret: good branding and marketing.
New York wine writers Lenn Thompson and Evan Dawson won't judge at wine competitions, and urge other journalists to follow suit. The complaints are valid -- but their prescription doesn't work for states like Michigan.
KNOW A GOOD BYO? PLEASE SHUT UP!Michigan's consumer-unfriendly laws make most BYO illegal. So publicizing places that quietly allow it doesn't necessarily do them any favors.
BAD PRESS FOR WINE COMPETITIONS
Ode to the Leelanau Winemaking pioneer Larry Mawby pens a poem about his home
The South Will Rise! Wyncroft's Jim Lester likes his region's future
