Kentucky wines excel in Wines of the South competition

KAN staff report

Kentucky wineries brought 37 medals, including two Best of Class awards, back to the Bluegrass State from the Wines of the South competition Oct. 17 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Wight-Meyer Vineyards & Winery of Shepherdsville earned Best of Class in Rose and Blush with its Kentucky Rosé, made from diamond and concord grapes, and Dessert & Fruit with its Winter Solstice, made from white diamond grapes. The Best of Class wines earned concordance gold medals (meaning all five judges awarded them gold), and three other Kentucky wineries submitted entries that achieved concordance gold status – Black Oak Vineyard of Princeton with its Chambourcin, Lovers Leap Vineyards and Winery of Lawrenceburg with its “G” (Gewurztraminer), and Wight-Meyer with its Norton. Wight-Meyer’s Vignoles also earned a gold medal.

Kentucky wineries added 16 silver medals and 15 bronze medals to their haul. A total of 471 wines from 14 southern states were entered in the ninth annual Wines of the South competition.

The annual Wines of the South awards ceremony is scheduled for February 2010.

The complete list of Kentucky wineries that earned medals at Wines of the South:

Acres of Land Winery, Richmond – silver, Concord and Maggie Adams Blush, and bronze, A.I. Wiseman Vidal Blanc

Black Oak Vineyard, Princeton – concordance gold, Chambourcin; silver, Vidal Blanc, Chardonnel, and Sunset Blush

Chrisman Mill Winery, Nicholasville – silver, Sweet Riverbend Red and Vidal Blanc, and bronze, Norton

Lovers Leap Vineyards and Winery, Lawrenceburg – concordance gold, “G”; silver, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cynthiana, and bronze, Riesling and Sloppy Seconds

Purple Toad Winery, Paducah – silver, Paducah blue, and bronze, Cabernet Franc and Lauren’s Blackberry

Stone Brook Winery, Melbourne – silver, Vidal Blanc, and bronze, Stone Brook Vidal, Cranberry, Elderberry, Pomegranate and Strawberry

Wight-Meyer Vineyards & Winery, Shepherdsville – Best of Class, Kentucky Rosé and Winter Solstice; concordance gold, Norton; gold, Vignoles; silver, Kentucky Diamond, Sweet Blueberry, Concord, Sweet Red Raspberry, and Derby Zin; bronze, Chambourcin, Pine Creek Summer, Riesling, and Sweet Blackberry