Wednesday
Sep022009
Wine Enthusiast's Wine Star Awards Nominees Announced!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 11:52PM SwiftPageEmail Subject: Wine Enthusiast’s Wine Star Awards Nominees Announced! Let’s think about The Wine Enthusiast’s previous Wine Star Awards and what it means about The Wine Enthusiast:
The 2008 Winners
- The winemaker of the year is from Chateau St. Jean.
- The American winery of the year is Korbel Champagne Cellars
- The Man of the year is from Constellation Brands
- The Importer of the year is Shaw-Ross
I am sure you’re dying to pack wine from these companies into your cellar. I think no further comment is required.
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Reader Comments (6)
Yikes.
Hey Craig,
I went to the site linked and I think you read it wrong. The page announces the nominees for the 2009 awards which will come out in October issue.
The list you have here above, is actually 2008 award winners. Not 2009.
So, we can still pack our cellars with Shaw-Ross/Constellation/Korbel/St. Jean until mid-October. Then our choices will be:
(choice of one per catagory, please)
Person of the Year
Ted Baseler (Ste. Michelle Wine Estates)
Mariann Fischer Boel (European Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development)
Nicolas Catena (Catena Zapata, Argentina)
Bill Foley II (Foley Estates)
Christian Moueix (Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, France; Dominus, Napa)
American Winery of the Year
Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars and Chateau Frank (Finger Lakes, NY)
Leonetti Cellar (Walla Walla, Washington)
Ponzi Vineyards (Willamette Valley, Oregon)
Rodney Strong Vineyards (Sonoma, California)
Trinchero Family Estates (Napa, California)
Winemaker of the Year
João Nicolau de Almeida, Ramos Pinto (Portugal)
Roberto de la Mota (Argentina)
Ben Glaetzer, Glaetzer Wines (Australia)
Ernst Loosen, Dr. Loosen (Germany)
Scott McLeod, Rubicon (California)
European Winery of the Year
Bouchard Pére et Fils (France)
Livio Felluga (Italy)
Mezzacorona (Italy)
The Royal Tokaji Wine Company (Hungary)
Sierra Cantabria (Spain)
Wine Region of the Year
Champagne (France)
Rhône Valley (France)
Russian River Valley (California)
Stellenbosch (South Africa)
Valpolicella (Italy)
New World Winery of the Year
Bodega Catena Zapata (Argentina)
d'Arenberg (Australia)
Jackson-Triggs Vintners (Canada)
VSPT (Chile)
Yalumba (Australia)
Distiller of the Year
St. Germain (Robert Cooper) / Domaine de Canton (John Cooper)
Hangar One
Hendrick's Gin
Martell Cognac
Partida Tequila
Importer of the Year
Dalla Terra
Frederick Wildman
Jorge Ordoñez/Fine Estates From Spain
Kermit Lynch
Winebow
Retailer of the Year
Andronico's Markets (Northern California)
Best Cellars at A&P (Eastern US)
Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit (New York)
Trader Joe's (throughout US)
Wine Exchange (Southern California)
Innovator of the Year
Jim Koch, Samuel Adams (Boston)
José Manuel Ortega, O. Fournier (Spain, Chile, Argentina)
Audrey Saunders, Pegu Club (New York)
Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library (New Jersey)
The Wine Group (Boston)
Point taken and corrected Bob. Thanks for pointing it out. However, it does not matter what the year is as it is clear that The Wine Enthusiast was only interested in rewarding big, industrial producers. In other words - potential advertisers.
Except d'Arenberg...definitely not a big industrial producer. Fourth generation family business that retains a thoroughly artisnal approach toward winemaking and viticulture. Let's hope they win!
I could not agree more about d'Arenberg, but considering who won last year I give them little hope of winning. Other deserving nominees are the excellent importers Dalla Terra and Kermit Lynch.
Bingo, Craig. Except I'd say it's not so much "potential" advertisers, but actual ones. And I'd be shocked if a nomination is not predicated on a guarantee that the nominee's firm will buy a table's worth of tickets to the gala ceremony in January. Here's a comedic take on the whole scenario, from the Dregs Report we put up on April Fools Day of this year: http://dregsreport.com/starfish.htm