Every year, Wine Press Northwest (a fantastic online publication that we included in our ‘Top Northwest blogs’ post) holds a year-end competition. Appropriately dubbed the “Platinum Judging,” this competition is meant to determine and showcase the best wines the Pacific Northwest has to offer from the previous year. In order to be eligible, a wine has to have been certified gold or better at a professionally judged wine competition sometime during 2014.

Unsurprisingly, our highly skilled winemaker, Robert Smasne, took home nine platinum certifications in all, two of which were for wines from Northwest Cellars! That’s right, our 2013 Sonatina and our 2011 Verhey Vineyard Malbec were both certified platinum at the competition!

Our 2011 Verhey Vineyard Malbec was certified double gold this year at Seattle Wine Awards. According to Wine Press Northwest, “The complexity is overwhelming in this truly fabulous wine!”
Our 2013 Sonatina, which also received a certification (gold) at this year’s Seattle Wine Awards, was characterized by Wine Press NW as “…wildly aromatic on the nose and rich on the palate.”

We were also fortunate to have our 2011 Petite Sirah and our 2011 Intrigue both certified as Double Gold this year. Our 2010 Syrah, and our 2012 Chardonnay, were also honored this year, each receiving a gold certification.

All in all, we are so honored and incredibly humbled to be included in this competition. There are so many great wines from the Northwest, and it’s really a treasure to share ranks with some of the region’s best. Ultimately, the crafting of wine is not about competition to see which wine is best, which one pairs better with a particular dish, etc. The crafting of a truly great wine is about sharing the passion we as vintners feel towards wine and the experience it gives us. And that’s exactly what competitions like these are all about: sharing the love for wine that abounds in this region. Thanks again to Wine Press Northwest!
You can read up on the complete results from the competition here!