The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino Winegrowers:
On Saturday, August 17, nearly 100 people gathered for the first-ever People’s Choice Mendocino County Wine Competition. The afternoon started with a welcome rain shower as members of the wine-loving public arrived to assume the role of wine judge.
In all, 31 wineries submitted 100 wines to the event, with 5 Best in Show winners, 11 Double Gold medals, 27 Gold medals, and 30 Silver medals awarded.
This year’s biggest winner was Husch Vineyards, which took home both Best in Show – White for their 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, and Best in Show – Dessert for their 2023 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. Husch also took home three other Gold medals. “Husch has always believed in the quality of fruit from our county and it shows in the wines. We were excited to see both our Mendocino County and Anderson Valley wines taking top honors,” says Krista Robinson, family owner of Husch Vineyards, who was also in attendance at the event. “This event was a great showcase of Mendocino County wines and a modern take on wine judging. Blind tasting is educational and a fun challenge for anyone!”
Best in Show – Sparkling went to Anderson Valley mainstay Roederer Estate for their Brut Multi Vintage. Pleiades held onto the title for Best of Show – Rose with their 2023 Rose of Sangiovese, made with Hopland grapes (their 2022 won the category last year). And Best in Show – Red went to Redwood Valley winery BARRA of Mendocino for their 2021 Reserve Petite Sirah.
Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc. (MWI) is responsible for the wine competition, now in its 45th year, and decided to evolve the event to a People’s Choice blind tasting this year to increase public interest in and awareness of Mendocino County wines. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and the event planners are already thinking about how to make it even better next year.
“It’s so interesting to see the results of this competition compared to past years,” says MWI Marketing Chair Elizabeth Archer. “A lot of the winners are longtime Mendocino favorites that everyone would agree are well-made, worthy wines. But wines that have never been entered before had a chance to shine in this format, and many of them took home medals.”
MWI Executive Director Bonnie Butcher emphasized that while not every wine received a medal, every single one earned gold votes, reflecting the diverse tastes of our audience. “This just proves that there’s a perfect wine for everyone and an appreciative audience for every wine.”
All Best in Show, Double Gold, and Gold medal wines are invited to be poured for fairgoers at the Mendocino County Apple Fair in Boonville from September 13-15. Click here to see the full list of this year’s winners.
Ah, a perfect example of alcohol glorification. All those articles about wine and cannabis taking our good water got me thinking. We need to go get some help ya’ll.
Can’t we at least grow SOME food? I feel like grape growers who own over 200 acres of grapes should be required to plant a row of potatoes or something to distribute to the community whose water they use for profit. Like a community tribute. Most of us never even see the banks of the Russian by standing there, because it’s owned so wholeheartedly by grape growers, a monopoly of all the land that touches the river. Grow food not drugs.
Wineries are major employers and economic drivers for the county in a way that small, diversified food farms can’t be until we as a society collectively value food enough to pay much higher prices for it. Lots of wineries have food gardens for their employees but I know that’s not the same thing. FWIW, many local wineries do support organizations for local farmers and food access like Good Farm Fund, Caring Kitchen Project, etc. not to mention being the primary sponsors for other huge fundraisers in the county like Pure Mendocino for Cancer Resource Centers, Winesong for the coast clinics, etc. Mendocino is considered the “greenest” wine growing region and we have more organic acres than anyone else. Land access is absolutely an issue and I agree that it’s a shame we don’t have more public access to the Russian river. It’s not all winery owned but it is all pretty much private. There’s always room for improvement but people are going to drink wine, might as well drink Mendo’s wine which supports locals and is way more likely to be organic.
I’m glad many local wineries are “green”. I’m glad many local wineries have employee gardens. And that’s good that wineries are donating to support cancer support centers, especially since nearly all cancers are from environmental exposure, and the exposure in our county is pesticides. Farm workers are classically known to suffer from higher rates of cancer, parkinsons and other nuerolgical issues. Being “green” isn’t organic. Fish friendly means they put screens on river pumps to avoid sucking in fish, nothing about taking the water though.
Wineries are not Vineyards.
Wineries are not Vineyards.
Wineries are not Vineyards.
But they both use underpaid Mexicans.
I’m saying like the wineries having an employee garden, the vineyards need to have a community garden. Do you know how expensive (counting water bills) growing your own food is? The vineyards have the water, the land , the human resources and equipment all the infrastructure in place to grow. Us non hereditary land holders have to pay out the wazoo for water.
Wineries are major employers and economic drivers for the county in a way that small, diversified food farms can’t be until we as a society collectively value food enough to pay much higher prices for it. Lots of wineries have food gardens for their employees but I know that’s not the same thing. FWIW, many local wineries do support organizations for local farmers and food access like Good Farm Fund, Caring Kitchen Project, etc. not to mention being the primary sponsors for other huge fundraisers in the county like Pure Mendocino for cancer resource centers, winesong for the coast clinics, etc. Mendocino is the “greenest” wine growing region and we have more organic acres than anyone else. Land access is an issue and I agree that it’s a shame we don’t have more public access to the Russian river. It’s not all winery owned but it is all pretty much private. There’s always room for improvement but people are going to drink wine, might as well drink Mendo’s wine which supports locals and is way more likely to be organic.