Woodinville Brings Home World’s Top Wine Awards
Five Woodinville wineries earned a place on Wine Enthusiast magazine’s recently released 2014 Top 100 list, a prestigious award that annually recognizes the best overall wines in the world. The magazine honored Woodinville’s Ashan Cellars, Efesté, JM Cellars, Kevin White Winery and Sparkman Cellars. Two additional Washington wines, one from Gramercy Cellars and another from Sineann, also made Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100.
“This is an award that underscores the quality of wines being made in Woodinville by a long list of vintners,” noted Woodinville Wine Country executive director Sandra Lee. “Most Woodinville wineries are open to the public and are quite small. It is not unusual to have the winemaker pouring behind the tasting bar. The Puget Sound area is fortunate to have easy access to so much winemaking talent,” Lee observes.
Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 list is the latest in a string of impressive awards to come home to Woodinville. Earlier this fall, Wine Enthusiast published its Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2014 recognizing the most age-worthy wines of the year. Four Woodinville wineries, Betz Family Winery, Januik, JM Cellars and Mark Ryan, made that list. Wine Spectator’s Dec. 31, 2014 issue honors two Washington wines on its annual Top 100 round-up including Woodinville’s Amavi Cellars.
Woodinville is 30 minutes northeast of downtown Seattle. Most of the area’s 100 wineries and tasting rooms are open weekends; others are open daily, a few are open by appointment only. Check wineries’ web sites for hours of operation or plan a tour by visiting Woodinville Wine Country’s web site or Facebook.com/WoodinvilleWineCountry.
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Photo: Woodinville’s JM Cellars was the only Washington winery named to both Wine Enthusiast best overall and most age-worthy Top 100 lists in 2014. John and Peggy Bigelow (pictured) own JM Cellars; John is JM Cellars winemaker.
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