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Her touch with chardonnay is downright delicious and refreshing. Those notes follow through in rich fashion, joined by blueberry acidity and a sense of earthiness, leading out with well-managed tannins for a smooth finish.ģ100 Cellars 2016 Whitewater Sparkling Wine, Snake River Valley $36: Hailey Minder, whose day job is making wine for Telaya Wine Co., continues to build a following for her boutique sparkling wine project. The influence of syrah is immediately apparent as the nose gathers up whiffs of blackberry, plum, cured meat and herbs. 2018 Turas Journey Red Wine, Snake River Valley $34: For the second time in three years, this syrah-based red blend by Sullivans was selected as the best red wine of the Idaho Wine Competition. Its crisp profile offers a hint of salinity in the finish. Classic aromas of lemon verbena, lime, Bosc pear, quince and spice lead to bright flavors of lime sorbet and Asian pear. Williamson Vineyards 2019 Albariño, Snake River Valley $23: Voted best of show at the 2020 Idaho Wine Competition, the Williamson family and the winemaking team at Koenig Vineyards captured much of the charm surrounding this fascinating white grape native to Spain. Ask for these wines at your favorite wine shop or contact the wineries directly. “Any Spanish dish or anything with spices.”īelow are reviews of some of the top wines from the competition that saw 36 brands represented among the 160 entries. “They made a paella, and that albariño did very well with it,” he said. Patrick recently returned from a salmon fishing trip in Alaska. And it can handle a cream sauce that’s not too heavy.” “Veggies off the grill is what I’ve been enjoying it with. “We’ve decided that this wine is a vegetarian’s dream,” Williamson-Mack said. If everything plays out, Williamson figures to harvest albariño in the second half of September at around 23 Brix - along the lines of the 2020 Idaho Wine Competition’s top wine. “We wanted to find a white that can handle our winters that wasn’t chardonnay or riesling.” “Martin talked about Abacela quite a bit, and we got glowing reviews of their work from anyone I talked to about albariño,” Patrick Williamson said.

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In 2018, the Williamsons established 2 acres of Albariño, and one of those acres is farmed on a contract with Fujishin, who owns Fujishin Family Cellars and young Free Dog Wines with Teresa Moye. The Williamsons credit Martin Fujishin for helping to lead them down the path to albariño. The man responsible for pioneering and promoting tempranillo in the U.S., also is seen as the country’s leading producer of albariño. Williamson Vineyards also won a gold medal for its 2018 Harvest Moon Red Wine – a mourvèdre-based blend produced by Greg Koenig.ĭown in Southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley, Earl Jones of iconic Abacela is smiling. Earlier this summer, that same wine won the same award at the eighth annual Cascadia International Wine Competition.įor the second straight year, Idaho’s top sparkling wine came from young 3100 Cellars and Hailey Minder, who also makes wine for the Sullivans at Telaya.Īlso winning multiple gold medals were Camas Prairie Winery, Clearwater Canyon Cellars, Koenig Vineyards, Huston Vineyards/Chicken Dinner Wines, young Rivaura Estate Vineyards & Winery in the Lewis-Clark Valley, Roghani Vineyards and Hat Ranch Winery/Vale Wine Co. She used her 2019 46 Brix Riesling Ice Wine to win the award for Best Sweet Wine.

Garden City winemaker Melanie Krause of Cinder Wines and Krause & Schnerr Family Cellars amassed six gold medals at this year’s Idaho Wine Competition. It was one of three gold medals this year for Telaya, which was recognized for its 2018 Scoria Vineyard Malbec and 2019 Carrie’s Select Chardonnay.

Earl and Carrie Sullivan at Telaya Wine Co., can make a claim for their syrah-based Turas Journey as the Snake River Valley’s top red wine project, using their expression from the 2018 vintage to win the award for Best Red Wine at the Idaho Wine Competition for the second time in three years.