Handful of SWVA wineries win Governor’s Cup medals
Five Southwest Virginia wineries and one cider house took home medals from this year’s Virginia Governor’s Cup event.
The highly competitive contest among the state’s wineries is organized by the Virginia Wineries Association, the Virginia Wine Board and the Virginia Vineyards Association. Several hundred individual wines are sampled each year by a panel of expert judges.
The judges award medals of gold, silver and bronze. After this year’s winners were announced late last week, I scoured the list to see how many local wineries I could find.
The contest is still fairly well dominated by wineries in Northern and central Virginia, particularly the Charlottesville area. None of our local wineries earned gold medals, but several silver and bronze medals did come home to our corner of the state.
Congratulations to the owners of the following wineries. If you are a wine aficionado, what do you think of Southwest Virginia wines?
AmRhein Wine Cellars, Bent Mountain
Silver, 2011 Vidal Blanc
Silver, Chambourcin
Silver, 2011 Pinot Gris Reserve
Attimo Winery, Christiansburg
Silver, Vidal Blanc
Chateau Morrisette, Floyd
Silver, 2011 Chardonnay
Silver, 2009 Petit Verdot
Bronze, 2011 Frosty Dog
Bronze, 2011 Viognier
Bronze, 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Stanburn Winery, Stuart
Silver, 2011 Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc (Bull’s Blush)
Silver, 2011 Vidal Blanc (Meadow Breeze)
Bronze, 2011 Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc (Big A Red)
Bronze, 2011 Cabernet Franc
Bronze, 2011 Chambourcin
Beliveau Estate Winery, Blacksburg
Bronze, 2011 Vidal Blanc (Destiny)
Foggy Ridge Hard Cider, Dugspur
Silver, 2011 Sweet Stayman
Bronze, 2011 Handmade Cider
Bronze, 2011 Serious Cider
Bronze, 2011 First Fruit
February 26, 2013 - 1:16 PM
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I’ve had some good wines around here (notably AmRhein), but I have to admit that most of my favorites are up near Charlottesville. My all-time favorite is Barren Ridge in Fisherville (near Waynesboro); not a single bad wine in their lineup, and they have a wide variety of styles.
YAY!!!!
A lot of really good wines are made around Charlottesville. I wish our SWVA wines would gain some more recognition and was hoping folks would chime in about that on this entry.
Do you think there’s a reason only six wineries from our area medaled in this competition? Is it a quality issue or a money issue or a reputation issue? Maybe those are the only wineries that entered the Governor’s Cup. It would be interesting to know if that’s the case.
I love Chateau Morrisette’s Angel Chardonnay. I also like the Barboursville wines that I’ve tried. When I buy wine, it usually is Virginia wine.
Sumdat Market on the Market, has had wine tastings from different VA vineyards, on Saturdays several times this winter.
As for hard cider, I really like Bold Rock Apple Cider made in Nellysford, VA.
Hi Lindsey – To answer your question about this specific competition, some wineries don’t enter any competitions, some a few, and some many. Our family’s winery (West Wind Farm V&W in Wythe County) has collected over 4 dozen medals in our six years and honestly just don’t enter competitions like we once did.
Some have gotten pricey and some just don’t mean much. That’s not to say the Governor’s Cup is one of those – it’s not. It’s well regarded and is well-done. We just didn’t put any wines in this year in that competition.
Readers: http://www.westwindwine.com is our website in case anyone’s interested, or visit http://www.facebook.com/westwindfarm.
I’m glad you’re spending time discussing our industry in our area!
Lindsey, I think it is more than one issue. I think the primary cause is lack of reputation. That can be owed to the less than aggressive marketing done by SW Va wineries/vineyards. Yes, I’m aware of the marketing done by most of them. I just think ( the second reason) that it could be a more concerted and cohesive effort. First convince people who live locally and those from elsewhere that SW Va has several really good wines. Then sell them on your own brand.
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Also, the culture of this area is not as accepting of wineries/vineyards in general as that around Cville. If that could inexorably be changed, that would help as well. It would be interesting to know how many SW Va folks competed. There are several wineries/vineyards around this area, and even some down as far as towards the Tenn & Kent. borders.
It would be nice to see the industry grow in SW Va.
We visit wineries frequently and Fincastle is our favorite local winery. However, it is hard to beat the Charlottesville area wines. We recently visited The King Family Winery and WOW. Beautiful venue and delicious wines. Also you can’t beat Veritas. But I have to admit–I still head for California Chardonnay and my new favorite red, Nero D’Avola when I’m in the wine aisle/shop.
No Vahalla wines. No surprise!
One local winery that I didn’t see listed was Valhalla. I know they have some good wines, so I can only assume that they didn’t enter?
I love Attimo and their Cuban pork sandwich is wonderful!
Maybe they need to do more marketing. I have only heard of 2 of these, but have also visited both of them – AmRhein and Chateau Morissette.
I have visited and tasted wine from at least 4 Southwest Virginia Wineries. I am disappointed not to see the West Wind Winery in Wythe County listed. The wine is great, the atmosphere is great and the Saturday lunch, music, and wine is to die for. Definitely a place for any and all wine lovers to visit.
Though competitions are nice and to medal in them means a lot to the wineries I love our hidden gems in southwest Virginia . West wind is my hometown winery and love most there wines and all of their events though I don’t get to enough of them. Good owners and a great family. Attimo is another favorite. These places do more for their customers than any medal in a competition can bring.
Sumdat Market will be having a wine tasting from Valhalla Vineyards this Saturday from 11:00 to 3:00.