2023 Sonoma County Harvest Fair wine contest winners announced
Family-owned wineries swept the coveted sweepstakes awards Sunday at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Awards Gala. And at the event, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, co-vintner and winemaker Diane Wilson turned heads again for winning a sweepstakes award for the seventh time with one of the labels she owns.
This year Wilson Winery of Healdsburg and Fritz Underground Winery of Cloverdale won top honors in the red and white categories, respectively, with the Wilson Winery, 2021 Zinfandel Reserve, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County ($38), and the Fritz, 2021 Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County ($35). Healdsburg’s De La Montanya Winery snagged the top specialty wine award with its Twisted Jill, 2020 Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County ($55).
Fritz and De La Montanya also have won a sweepstakes award in the past, with the inception of the Harvest Fair Wine Competition dating back to 1979.
“These are the best of the best in our world-class grape-growing region of Sonoma County,” said Sheila Quince, one of the professional wine coordinators of the Harvest Fair Wine Competition. “All the wines in the contest are produced from Sonoma County grapes.”
Roughly 250 people gathered at the fairgrounds Sunday night, paying $150 each to see the suspense end for the wine competition. The event at Saralee & Richard’s Barn recognized the Sonoma County champions with a roll-out of the winners — Sweepstakes, Best of Class, Double Gold and Gold.
The complete list of those winners will be posted Monday on the Harvest Fair’s website, harvestfair.org, and included in The Press Democrat Sunday, Oct. 8.
This year, there were 964 entries from 126 labels, up slightly from last year’s 935 entries from 124 labels.
At the gala, unveiling the winners of the wine competition has become a yearly harvest tradition.
Wilson crafted the zinfandel that was this year’s top-scoring red and her Wilson label also snagged this award in 2005, 2006 and 2011 with zinfandel. But in 2012 Wilson’s Pezzi King label won the sweepstakes red with zinfandel, while winning the sweepstakes specialty wine with its late harvest sauvignon blanc. And in 2015, Wilson’s Matrix label won the top scoring red with pinot noir.
Co-vintners of Wilson Artisan Wineries, Wilson and her husband Ken own nearly a dozen Sonoma County labels. In addition to Wilson, Pezzi King and Matrix, their Sonoma County empire includes Coyote Sonoma, deLorimier, Greenwood Ridge, Jaxon Keys, Mazzocco Sonoma, Rockpile, Soda Rock and St. Anne’s Crossing.
Wilson’s major was biochemistry at San Diego State and while she didn’t study enology, she said her science background sees her through.
The winemaker crafts wine in her century-old tin barn. The winery, founded in 1993, restored the barn decades ago with state-of-the-art equipment for its winemaking operation. Stainless-steel tanks replaced redwood vats and now French and American oak barrels line the walls.
The top-ranking chardonnay in the contest was produced at Fritz’s winemaking facility built into a hillside in Dry Creek Valley. Vintner Clay Fritz credits his father, Arthur Fritz, for being ahead of the curve with the winery’s subterranean design built in the late 1970s.
This is the second time Fritz won top honors. In 1995 the winery (formerly named J. Fritz) won the sweepstakes red with zinfandel.
The sparkling wine that edged out the other specialty wines this year comes from the De La Montanya boutique winery. The family has roots in Sonoma County going back six generations. Founding the winery in 1995, Dennis and Tina De La Montanya planted pinot noir, chardonnay and viognier grapes.
This is the second time De La Montanya produced the highest ranking wine. The winery’s pinot noir snagged the sweepstakes red award in 2007.
The public will get a chance to taste this year’s sweepstakes winners and all the top-scoring wines at the Harvest Fair Grand Tasting Oct. 14. Tickets for the tasting at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds are available at harvestfair.org and range from $75 to $200 per person.
Nearly a quarter of the entries were honored with Gold, Double Gold or Best of Class awards this year. National contests, by comparison, typically only bestow their top awards on 12% to 18% of entrants.
“There’s a higher percentage of winners in the Harvest Fair Wine Competition than in most competitions,” said contest coordinator Bob Fraser. “There are higher quality wines entered because they’re produced from Sonoma County grapes.”
You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.
