Governor’s Cup wine competition recognizes Fauquier’s best

Forget about traveling to Rio in August to see American athletes score some heavy medal. Gold medals are being poured out of Fauquier County wine bottles daily.

The Governor can attest to it.

A panel of world-class judges pushed away from their tasting tables in late February and announced the winners of the 2016 Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition. It comes as no surprise to county wine lovers that five Fauquier wineries strutted off with eight gold medals.

While the competition has been held for 34 years, in 2012 it was restructured to represent the highest standards of professional wine evaluation in the Nation. To be awarded a gold medal 432 wines were evaluated in preliminary rounds with 130 finalists scrutinized by 15 professional sommeliers, chefs, writers and retailers. Only 38 wines were awarded a coveted gold.

The overall winner of the Governor’s Cup was Keswick Vineyards in Charlottesville for its 2014 Cabernet Franc Reserve.

But if it’s a tasty bottle of Fauquier County white or red you are looking to score for a weekend barbecue or guest dinner, look no further than these winners:

Delaplane Cellars:          2013 Williams Gap—Bordeaux-styled red blend

Granite Heights Winery: 2010 Evening Serenade—red blend

2010 Lomax Reserve—red blend

2012 humility—red blend

Naked Mountain Winery: 2012 Petit Verdot–red

Pearmund Cellars:          2013 Chardonnay

2013 Petit Verdot–red

Vint Hill Craft Winery:     2013 Cabernet Sauvignon

Fauquier’s strong showing reinforces the caliber of wine being produced by our winery proprietors. Congratulations to the winners, and all 26 county wineries, for their dedication to the vintner’s art.

But wait, there’s more!
Limiting yourself to just a handful of Governor Cup winners employs the “Let the experts decide” search strategy. But it deprives a wine lover of many other in-county jewels just waiting to the picked from the tasting room vine.

The best approach is to start visiting county vineyards and evaluating the wines yourself. It’s fun and nothing beats the “Oh, I like this one” smile that comes across the face of an oenophile when they discover a winner on their own.

But when the schedule is tight and you want to target some respected wineries, here are a few additional wines that will take you to that summertime happy place.

Arterra Wines:       2014 Malbec

Barrel Oak:           2012 Petit Verdot

Blue Valley:          2013 Viognier

Chateaux O’Brien: 2011 Petit Manseng—full-bodied white

Desert Rose:         2014 Covert Cab

Fox Meadow:         2015 Barrel fermented Chardonnay

Linden:                 2014 Avenius Sauvignon Blanc

Philip Carter:         2014 Sabine Hall Viognier

So seek, taste and evaluate on your own. The thrill of the hunt is often more fun than bagging the perfect bottle. Achieving both is wine nirvana.

Cheers!

 

Published in the 2016 Summer edition of inFauquier magazine.