2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling Wins Best Wine Of The Year at the 3rd annual Sommeliers Choice Awards.

Eroica wines are a testament of quality made by combining Old World philosophy and technique with New World attitude. It is a winemaking collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and famed Mosel winemaker Ernst Loosen, right from the vineyard to the bottle. The widely acclaimed and uniquely ageable Eroica Riesling sets the bar for Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Riesling leadership.

Eroica is a labor of love for two of the world's great Riesling producers, where old and new philosophies intermingle to create exceptional techniques. From the Old World, Dr. Loosen Estate of Germany, and from the New, Chateau Ste. Michelle of Washington state. Together, an extraordinary Riesling has been crafted using Washington state grapes, since 1999.

Inspired by Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the name Eroica reflects not only the variety and site, but also their heritage. Their shared history has been shaped from elegantly refined German inspiration and boldly developed from Washington roots.

For more than 200 years, Dr. Loosen Estate in the Mosel Valley has produced fine Riesling. During the last two decades, proprietor Ernst Loosen has traveled the world promoting the fine quality and long tradition of Riesling as a great wine in Europe, and now, the New World. In 1999, Ernst Loosen approached Chateau Ste. Michelle with the idea of joining forces after discovering the winery’s Cold Creek Vineyard Riesling. Together, they now produce a luxury Riesling that's world-renowned.

Chateau Ste. Michelle has championed Riesling for more than 45 years and was among the first to plant Riesling in Washington state. The national spotlight shone on Ste. when their 1972 Johannisberg Riesling won the now-famous Riesling blind tasting sponsored by the Los Angeles Times in 1974. Presently, Chateau Ste. Michelle bottles up to nine Riesling selections, each showcasing the versatility of the varietal and the regional styles within Washington's Columbia Valley, an area that produces more Riesling than any other American wine region.

2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling gets the top score at the 2021 Sommeliers Choice Awards

The Sommelier Choice Awards provides on-premise buyers and sommeliers a valuable benchmark for understanding which wines would make a compelling addition to a wine list. 

Sid Patel briefing the judges

On the left, each judge was seated at their own desk. On the right, Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network briefing the judges.

The wines were judged in five categories: food pairing ability, typicity, quality, value, and packaging. The judges ask themselves, would I stock this wine, and is it good enough for customers to order a second glass? Wines are graded out of 100, with only those above 95 points winning the coveted Double Gold award. There are also category awards, with best in show given to white, red, sparkling, rosé, and an overall winner every year, by the bottle and by the glass – reflecting how wine is presented in restaurants.

Here are the 3rd edition results:

No. 1 Spot: Wine of the Year - Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen 2019 Eroica Riesling

Wine Of The Year - 2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, United States

White Wine of the Year - 2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, United States

Red Wine of the Year - 2018 Persistence by Reynolds Family Winery, United States

Sparkling Wine of the Year - Albinea Canali Lambrusco "FB" Metodo Ancestrale by Albinea Canali, Italy

Rosé Wine of the Year - 2020 Baron De Ley Rioja Rosado by  Baron De Ley, Spain

Top Winners By The Glass

Wine Of The Year - BTG (By The Glass) - 2019 Long Shadows Vintners - Poet's Leap Riesling, United States.

White Wine Of The Year - BTG (By The Glass) - 2019 Long Shadows Vintners - Poet's Leap Riesling, United States.

Red Wine Of The Year - BTG (By The Glass) - 2017 Carracedo, Spain

Sparkling Wine Of The Year - BTG (By The Glass) - Albinea Canali Lambrusco "FB" Metodo Ancestrale, Italy

Rosé Wine Of The Year - BTG (By The Glass) - 2020 Baron De Ley Rioja Rosado, Spain.

Top Winners By Varietal (View here)

Riesling - 2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica, United States.

Cabernet Sauvignon - 2018 Persistence, United States.

Malbec - 2018 UNO MALBEC, Argentina

Pinot Noir - 2016 Sass Pinot Noir 2016, United States.

Pinot Gris - 2019 Montinore Estate Pinot Gris, United States.

Chardonnay - 2019 Trois Noix Chardonnay, United States.

Judging Event of 2021 Sommeliers Choice Awards

View All Results

"Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the industry," explained Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network, the organizing company of the Sommeliers Choice Awards, "and when we come out of this, we hope to see a strong rebound in the hospitality sector. The increased number of quantity in 2021 submissions truly demonstrated the faith our industry has in the long term outlook of the hospitality industry".

Winners will also be promoted on BTN’s new direct-to-consumer portals Los Angeles Drinks Guide, San Francisco Drinks Guide, Chicago Drinks Guide, New York Drinks Guide along with BTN’s trade portals Sommeliers Business and BevRoute.

Sommelier Business Website

The top 100 wines for restaurants will also be marketed to sommeliers around the USA via the Top 100 On-Premise Wines website.

David Keck, Master Sommelier. View all judges here.

About Sommeliers Choice Awards

The goal of the Sommeliers Choice Awards is simple: to provide on-premise buyers and sommeliers a valuable benchmark for understanding which wines would make a compelling addition to a wine list.

Medals will be awarded to those wines that meet very specific judging criteria, with a goal of identifying wines that should become valuable additions to restaurant wine lists. Wines will be judged according to criteria such as how well they pair with food items in addition to their overall versatility. The pertinent questions that sommeliers attempt to answer as they judge wines is: “Would we stock this?” and “Would the customer buy a second glass of this wine?"

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How the Scoring system works:

F (Food pairing ability Score) + T (Typicity Score) + Q (Quality Score) + Value Score (V) + Package Score (P) = Sommeliers Choice Awards Final Score.

Food pairing ability

Food pairing ability of a wine is measured based on the variety of dishes that the wine can be paired with instead of just one or two.

Typicity 

Typicity is a term in wine tasting used to describe the degree to which a wine reflects its varietal origins and thus demonstrates the signature characteristics of the grape from which it was produced, for e.g. how much a Merlot  “tastes like a Merlot”. It is an important component in judging a wine competition when wines of the same variety are judged against each other.

Quality

Quality will be assessed based on how agreeable the wine is for its target customer and chemical analysis. SCA will measure quality by its Appearance, Aroma, Body, Taste and Aftertaste.

Value

Value in this context means how well the wine is priced based on its quality. Judges will blind taste and write what they think should be the cost on which they will buy the wines and is fair. If they think it offers excellent value, the score should be close to 100 and if they think it should be priced lower, then the score should be low. The metric to be used here is the on-premise price vs quality.

Packaging

Packaging will be measured by how well judges think the wine will be perceived by the consumer. The package will be judged for the on-premise market considering factors like label design, information, closure, and overall look. This does not involve boxes, cartons and bags. It is how they think the product will be observed when placed on a wine shelf amongst thousands of other wines.

A separate weighted score will be given for each of the parts of the judging process. The scores will be added up to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded.
 
Double Gold – 96 points and above

Gold – 90-95 points

Silver – 80-89 points

Bronze – 70-79 points

Find full 2021 results here

Press Contact:

Sid Patel | sid@beveragetradenetwork.com | Sommeliers Choice Awards | PH: +1 855 481 1112 (USA) | www.sommelierschoiceawards.com