Engelheim Vineyards Earns Double Gold in the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

ELLIJAY, Ga. - Jan. 15, 2015 - PRLog -- (Ellijay, GA, January 13, 2015)  — Engelheim Vineyards earned a Double Gold medal for Sweet Molly, the floral and fruit forward “Southern Belle version” of their estate grown Traminette.  Their three other estate grown wines were also awarded significantly prestigious official medals by the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  Traminette, a crisper version of the Sweet Molly, earned a Silver medal, as did Engelheim’s Merlot, one of the Competition’s largest categories.  Trilogy, a blend of three Engelheim estate grown grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot) won a Bronze medal.  All of these wines were grown and bottled in North Georgia.

Gary Engel, owner of Engelheim Vineyards, said he “couldn’t sleep after hearing the news” late Sunday night.  With it being the largest wine competition in the world and Engelheim’s first competition, we are truly blessed to have earned such high honors for each of our wines.  We are especially excited to have this news to celebrate with guests at our first Winter Feast and Wine Pairing event on Friday, January 30^th.  It’s going to add something real special to be able to introduce and share each of our wines that evening as a medal winner!  We are eternally grateful to the Lord, our family, Joe Smith, our wine-maker, and our dear friends that all helped make Engelheim Vineyards and our award-winning wines a reality.”

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition received 6,417 entries from more than 28 states.  Recognized as the largest competition of American wines in the world, it narrowed thousands of wines down to an exclusive few.  Fifty-nine professional wine judges from across the country, selected from a myriad of fields including trade, education, media, retail and hospitality, traveled to the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County during January 5th through January 9^th to judge the wines.

Utilizing an extensive process that divided the varietals into several categories and subcategories, the event gave the panels the chance to rate entries as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Double Gold (equivalent to a unanimous rating by all panel members). Only eight entries were honored with the prestigious Sweepstake Award in the categories of Sparkling, White, Pink, Red, and Dessert/Specialty wines. Many of the award winning wines will be available to taste at the Public Tasting (http://winejudging.com/public-tasting/), held on February 14, 2015 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

For more information or press inquiries, contact Wendy@engelheim.com, 706-635-WINE (9463) or 706-669-1644 cell.