Tiny Vineyards Medal Trifecta!

2021 WineMaker International Amateur Winemaking Competition

Largest amateur winemaking contest

Billed as the largest wine competition of its kind in the world, the 2021 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition, sponsored by WineMaker Magazine, attracted 1,893 entries from hobby winemakers in 47 American states, 4 Canadian provinces, and 6 countries as far away as Australia.

That’s why I was flat-out blown away to learn that three of the four wines I entered won a medal! And it was sort of a podium sweep as well. I won a bronze medal for my 2020 Pinot Rosé, a silver medal for my 2020 Wild White Sauvignon Blanc, and a gold medal for my 2019 Morpho Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sweet sassy molassy!

I digress

I have written about both my Pinot Rosé and my Sauvignon Blanc in an earlier post, but my Cabernet Sauvignon deserves a special mention. I’ve now made this Cab three years in a row with grapes from the same vineyard, affectionately known to a few of us as Sam’s Vineyard. In my first vintage in 2018 I made five gallons of Cabernet and somehow managed to win a silver medal in the U.S. Amateur Winemaking Competition put on by CellarMasters in Los Angeles. In my second vintage, with a new 30-gallon French oak barrel and a tad more winemaking savvy, I scored the gold medal from the WineMaker Competition, described above. My third vintage tastes fantastic, but I’m going to leave it in the barrel another year just to see what more I might coax from these remarkable grapes.

So remarkable that I’ve decided to use them this fall to make one of my first commercial wines. After long consideration on her part, I was finally able to convince Sam (yep, Sam’s a she) to sell me a ton of her grapes, which is four times as much as any amount I’ve gotten from her in the past. In this drought year, with low yields, it may take the entire vineyard to deliver the weight. But what that means, dear reader, is that two and a half years from now you’ll be able to snag a bottle and get to taste the magic of Sam’s Vineyard.

Enough about you, let’s talk about me

Let’s get back to the package that showed up in the mail yesterday with my three medals, judges’ notes, and three framable certificates. I know this contest is “just for home winemakers”. . .but still! Amateur winemakers are generally not allowed to enter professional competitions, so we’re a bit limited beyond local and regional contests sponsored by wine clubs and county fairs. And many of those were cancelled for the past season due to the Covid pandemic.

But if you read WineMaker Magazine, or have attended any of their seminars or events, you know this group is the real thing, staffed by true wine professionals who know their stuff. So I’m giving the competition some real credence.

Of course I am!

Click here for a complete listing of medal-winning wines and winemakers for 2021.