Forget Napa, Bordeaux and other famed wine-growing regions. We've got some winning wines right here in the Tar Heel State.
The State Fair's Ninth Annual Wine Competition had 307 competitors submitted by 41 North Carolina wineries.
Childress Vineyards took home the N.C. Winegrowers Cup and Best of Show honors with its 2006 Cabernet Franc. Childress also led the medal count with 33 awards. Old Stone Winery’s Sweet Muscadine took the N.C. Muscadine Cup for best Muscadine wine.
Three panels of professional judges evaluated wines and awarded 24 double gold, 29 gold, 97 silver and 94 bronze medals. Double gold medals are awarded for unanimous decisions from the judges.
Other top honors were:
Best Red Vinifera: Childress Winery, Barrel Select Cabernet Franc 2006
Best White Vinifera: Shelton Vineyards, Yadkin Valley Riesling 2007
Best Fruit Wine: Buck Shoals Vineyard, Apple Mead
Best Sparkling Wine: Biltmore Winery, Ch. Reserve Blanc de Blanc NC 2006
Best White Native American: Old Stone Vineyards, Sweet Muscadine
Best Red Native American: Cypress Bend Vineyards, Autumn
For a complete list of winners, please visit www.nccommerce.com/wine.
Thad Ogburn is The N&O's Metro Editor, overseeing most local news reporting. His previous jobs have included editor of North Raleigh News and Features Editor, during which he learned that comics attract more reader response than just about anything else we do. His guilty pleasure is reality TV, which he finds not very real at all. That's assuming, of course, there is room on his DVR amid his daughter's "iCarly" episodes and his wife's daily installments of "One Life To Live."
