PA Wine Excellence IX

We wine lovers tend to be a bit snobbish about our favorite beverage. It is in our nature to sniff, taste, discuss, compare. But sometimes that leads us to ignore what is in our own backyard. What? Good wines from Pennsylvania? How could that be? If you haven't tried Pennsylvania wines in recent years, you don't know what you are missing. By tasting and judging these wines every year, your board is well aware of the growth and development of Pennsylvania wineries, to the point where they are producing really fine quality wines that can stand up very well against those produced in other areas and other countries. You really need to find out what is happening and how good these wines are with us at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers on Sunday, January 16th. The event is in the afternoon, starting at 2 p.m.

As we have done every year, we will present the top scoring wines at the tasting. We will also have samples of the honorable mention wines. We will end the event by presenting our unique and beautiful award plaque to the highest scoring wine, always a great moment for the winner, who will display the plaque at his/her winery for the rest of the year. Francis O'Brien will be our speaker, and the winemakers will be on hand to talk about how they worked in the vineyards and the winery to make their high-scoring products. This year, as has been true in the recent past, the top 10 wines are all reds. Because we know Pennsylvania also makes good white wines, we will also have the top scoring white as a pre-pour.

And now the list of the top 10 wines - in alphabetical order:

• Allegro Bridge 2006
• Allegro Bridge 2007
• Allegro Cadenza 2007
• Allegro Cadenza 2008
• Blue Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
• Manatawny Creek Cabernet Franc 2007
• Manatawny Creek Meritage 2007
• Manatawny Creek Syrah 2008
• Pinnacle Ridge Veritas 2007
• Pinnacle Ridge Veritas 2008

The Honorable Mention List, in alphabetical order, follows. Please note that there is very little score difference between some of these wines and the top 10!

• Blue Mountain Vineyards Shiraz 2006
• Chaddsford Essence 2007
• Chaddsford Merican 2007
• Chaddsford Pinot Noir 2009
• Crossing Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2008
• Pinnacle Ridge Cabernet Franc 2008
• Pinnacle Ridge Chambourcin 2008
• Pinnacle Ridge Pinot Noir 2009
• Waltz Vineyard Crow Woods Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Come to the tasting, enjoy these wines, and celebrate our best Pennsylvania wineries! We are able to keep the price of attendance at a reasonable level because PWS supports the event with auction funds raised at our 20th Anniversary Gala.

The coming of January means it is time for our annual tasting that showcases the best wines in Pennsylvania made from vinifera and Chambourcin grapes. The date and time next year will be Sunday January 16th at 2 p.m. in the afternoon at the Hilton Harrisburg. Each year the wines are judged by the Board with the able assistance of Gary Pavlis, from Rutgers University who is also a teacher of the wine judging certification course for the American Wine Society. The top scoring wines are presented at the tasting, where we also give our annual award plaque to the winery that has made the top scoring wine. The plaque is proudly displayed at the winery for the rest of the year.

The Board members who do the judging and those who have been coming to these award tastings and following developments in the Pennsylvania wine industry know that the wines are more exciting every year. It makes sense. The growers are getting better at dealing with what nature throws at them in the form of weather; the winemakers gain experience in working in the cellar to improve the wines. We eagerly anticipate this tasting that simply gets better and better. In fact, last year it was the best attended event of all that PWS hosted. Those of you who think you have to drink only California or European wines need to check on what is happening nearby.

Be sure to view the list of winning wines and wineries from years past on our Awards page.

Event Registration Instructions