For the third time running Czech and Moravian winemakers participated in the San Francisco International Wine Competition which took place earlier this year. This 34th edition of the contest has brought our vintners their greatest success ever on the American continent. In total, they amassed 92 medals, among which were an unbelievable 10 double gold medals, followed by 7 gold, 36 silver and 39 bronze. The participation of our wines was undertaken with the financial support of the Wine Fund and the organizational resources of the National Wine Center.
An enormous success has been achieved by the wineries Vinařství Petr Vacenovský and Vinice Hnanice. Petr Vacenovský with his Riesling 2013 late harvest gained not only the award for the best Riesling in the competition but, what is more, his wine was also declared the best white wine in the show! Likewise Vinice Hnanice took home the award for the best wine among “other varieties”, meaning lesser known varieties from the world’s point of view, for his Irsai Oliver 2013 late harvest. “The result for our Irsai Oliver once again confirms the fact that we are creating superb wines in Hnanice even from lesser-known grape varieties. It is no surprise that the wine carries within itself the imprint of its homeland and the winemaker, and in short this is marvelous”, said Evžen Kašpárek from the Vinice Hnanice winery.
“The award for the best Riesling is very highly valued and is the proof that even in such a highly competitive category, we can manage to push through with our wine producers making Rieslings on the very highest level. On top of this the victory of the Irsai Oliver is a fine additional bonus, demonstrating that apart from the high quality of the most popular world-renowned varieties our wineries also stand out with their uncommon varietal diversity which never ceases to surprise the world’s sommeliers by its attractiveness and top-notch quality,” was how Marek Babisz, head sommelier at the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic commented on the event.
“The total of ten double gold medals means a phenomenal success for our winemakers which they have never in the past succeeded in reaching on the other side of the Atlantic. A total of 123 of our wines were entered in the competition, of which 92 received some kind of medal – that is almost three quarters of all the wines present. This is a great individual achievement for certain wineries, but such a high share in the awards naturally bears witness to the quality of Moravian and Czech wineries as a whole,” said Pavel Krška, director of the National Wine Centre, which had assured the participation of our wines. “A whole range of our wineries has ambitions to get onto the American market and having a calling card like this, as it were, from the world’s top table at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, can only help matters considerably,” adds Krška. The importer of Moravian wines to USA is Czech Wine Imports, Inc., contact information see below.
The 34th edition of the San Francisco International Wine Competition had a total of over 4,500 entries from across the globe.
Na zdraví!