In 2012, world-class judges sampled over 400 of the best VA Wines, handing out 13 Gold Medals. The 12 highest ranking wines were assembled into the Governor's Case at the VWA's Governor's Cup Gala, celebrating the start of the Virginia Wine Expo on Thursday, February 23rd.
The actual 2012 Governor's Cup was awarded to Jeff White and Glen Manor Vineyards for the 2009 Hodder Hill. a Meritage blend of 63 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 percent Merlot, 6 percent Cabernet Franc, and 6 percent Petit Verdot. (Glen Manor is one of our favorite wineries)
The rest of the Governor's Case included:
Jefferson Vineyards, 2010 Cabernet Franc
Bluestone Vineyards, 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Delfosse Vineyards & Winery, 2007 Meritage Blend
King Family Vineyards, 2008 Meritage Blend
Veritas Vineyard & Winery, 2010 Vintner’s Reserve
Tarara Winery, 2010 Honah Lee
Potomac Point, 2009 Heritage Reserve
Trump Winery, 2008 Kluge SP Blanc de Blanc
Keswick Vineyards, 2009 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Keswick Vineyards, 2010 Merlot
White Hall Vineyards, 2010 Gewürztraminer
This is a very nice collection of Va wines. I would love to receive the Governor's Case. The other Gold Medal went to Sunset Hills Vineyard for their 2009 Cabernet Franc. Overall, 137 Silver Medals and 215 Bronze medals were awarded. Silver corresponds to Wine Spectator's "Very Good" rating and Bronze to the Wine Spectator "Good" rating. Virginia Wine. Org does not include statistics on line concerning scores below the Bronze medal threshold or total number of entrants or who they were.
Other commentators have already discussed the fact that there are 5 Meritage-type blends in this Governor's Case and that only three wines are Whites. Further, the majority of the wines are from central Virginia. The story is more complex than that. The underlying theme of this Governor's case, it seems to me, is complexity. With some checking, I determined that both the White Hall Gewürztraminer and the Keswick Merlot have enough (75 percent) of the varietal to retain the name. But each has been blended with other varietals to obtain the flavor profile and characteristics the winemaker desired, which obviously was a good thing. Add that to the Honah Lee White blend from Tarara, and the fact that there were no single varietals like Viognier or Petit Verdot on the gold medal list, it seems that complexity played a significant part in the judge's scoring for Gold Medals.
Other observations on the entire list of medal winners.
1. Cooper Vineyards had the only Silver Medals awarded for both Chocolate dessert wine and Norton. That seem to me to be quite an achievement.
2. Reynard Florence Vineyard had the only Silver Medal for Petit Manseng. Given the growing number of Petit Mansengs being produced this was quite an achievement too for this new winery.
3. The only Traminette awarded a Silver Medal was Veritas' Kenmare. Given how many wineries make Traminette in Virginia this reinforces the perception of the quality of Veritas wines.
4. Only 12 wines made from hybrids achieved a Silver Medal out of 137 awarded. Curiously, there was no Chambourcin among those 12.
5. Keswick winning two Gold Medals, plus three Silver Medals, speaks volumes about this superb winery. So too the multiple awards for Jefferson, King Family, and Veritas. Blustone too did very well for newer winery.
6. Several wineries made very strong showings in Silver Medals.
All in all, the new format for the cup seems to work quite well. Lots of great wines in Virginia competing to be in the Governor's Case was a great idea, as is the idea to give feedback to the wineries. I hope more Virginia wineries compete next year.
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