11 Placer County Wineries Awarded in World’s Largest Competition of American Wines

Vintners Honored with 45 Awards Including Two Best of Class and One Double Gold

Vintners from Placer County are raising a glass to celebrate their success at the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. This year, 11 wineries brought home a total of 45 awards from the world’s largest competition of American wines, including two Best of Class awards for Loomis-based Le Casque and one Double Gold for Auburn’s Viña Castellano. Overall, Placer County wines secured nine gold, 24 silver and 12 bronze medals at the competition.

“We founded Le Casque with a singular goal: to produce small lots of wine from the absolute best vineyard sources in Placer County and the surrounding Sierra Foothills area,” said Kevin Stevenson, Owner of Le Casque. “This year’s competition was intense, and we are proud to have produced a collection of top-tier wines that stand out to the nation’s most discerning wine experts.”

Participation in this year’s competition yielded significant returns for Le Casque, with its 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2014 Sergent Port each awarded Best in Class while two other vintages garnered silver medals. Viña Castellano, whose Tempranillo earned Best of Class in last year’s competition, gained a Double Gold award for its 2012 Mourvedre this year, along with four silver medals.

Having received a record breaking 7,000 entries from more than 1,500 wineries, judges in this year’s competition faced a challenging decision in each category. The panel included 80 wine experts within the media, trade, hospitality and education industries.

Le Casque: Two Best of Class and two Silver medals
Viña Castellano: One Double Gold and four Silver medals
Wise Villa Winery: Four Silver, five Gold and three Bronze medals
Mt. Vernon Winery: Five Silver and 2 Bronze medals
Popie: Three Silver and one Bronze medal
Secret Ravine: Two Bronze and one Silver medal
Lone Buffalo Vineyards: Two Bronze and one Silver medal
Fawnridge Winery: One Silver, one Gold and one Bronze medal
Dono dal Cielo: Two Silver medals
Pescatore Vineyard and Winery: One Bronze medal
Bear River Winery: One Silver medal

Placer County Wine Trail is home to 20 Placer County wineries that expand throughout the foothills and are easily accessible from I-80 and Highway 49. For a complete list of participating wineries, venue details and directions, please visit PlacerWine.com.

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