Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/101724
Chateau Ste. Michelle Honored THE TASTING PANEL PRESENTS AWARDS AS IWSC MEDIA PARTNER photos by Hardy Wilson The winning wine: Chateau Ste. Michelle 2009 Canoe Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The Canoe Ridge estate sits at a mile-wide stretch of the Columbia River that Bertheau refers to as "the temperate zone" in Washington's Horse Heaven Hills AVA. "Our Canoe Ridge Cabernet produces an elegant, Old World–style wine that showcases what this region can do with Bordeaux varieties." Chateau Ste. Michelle Director of Winemaking Bob Bertheau makes a toast after receiving his IWSC awards. The award lunch was held at San Francisco's Bluestem Brasserie. C elebrating a double win as Top U.S. Producer for 2012 and for receiving the Warren Winiarski Trophy for Cabernet Sauvignon, Chateau Ste. Michelle Director of Winemaking Bob Bertheau was honored by members of the press at an award luncheon in San Francisco hosted by THE TASTING PANEL. The Chateau Ste. Michelle 2009 Canoe Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills bested all global entries for the coveted trophy sponsored by Winiarski, whose name is synonymous with world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. "I'm here today to accept these awards on behalf of the entire team at Chateau Ste. Michelle," said Bertheau. "And, especially for our Vineyard Manager, Mimi Nye, who has farmed this Columbia River site for 20 years and considers these vines to be her children." —Deborah Parker Wong THE TASTING PANEL presented Bertheau with commemorative photographs of the awards, which were received by the winery's German importer at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) ceremony held last November in London. PHOTO COURTESY OF IWSC The IWSC Now in its 44th year, the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) was founded in 1969 by wine chemist Anton Massel as Club Oenologique and renamed the IWSC in 1978. The competition is unique in that it uses a two-stage judging process of blind tasting followed by a rigorous chemical analysis of all winning wines to insure that they meet the standards required by their country of origin. "Chemical analysis is an important point of differentiation for the IWSC and one that establishes a higher level of credibility for this global competition, said THE TASTING PANEL Northern " 'S California Editor, Deborah Parker Wong. Presented in London: Warren Winiarski (left), IWSC VP and sponsor of the trophy, hands the award to Sander Vriend, owner of Worldwide Wine Services and German importer of Ste Michelle Wine Estates; IWSC 2012 President Mauricio Gonzales Gordon (right) of Gonzales Byass. january 2013 / the tasting panel / 85