Agriculture News

May 31, 2017

Washington state wines dominate 2017 INDY International Wine Competition

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Nearly 2,000 wines were entered in the nation’s largest independent and scientifically organized wine competition, the INDY International, held at Purdue University May 24-25.

Entrants came from 37 U.S. states and 14 countries, ranging from Australia and Chile to France and Spain. Wines were blindly evaluated for their unique qualities of aroma and taste by 50 professional judges representing the general wine-drinking public, from millennials to baby boomers.

In the final taste-off of the competition, the Wine of the Year trophy was awarded to Mercer Estates Winery from Washington state for their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Two more major trophies went to Washington state wineries: White Wine of the Year honors were awarded to College Cellars for their 2016 Muscat Ottonel and the 2017 Red Wine of the Year winner was Barrister Winery’s 2013 Petit Verdot.

The Sparkling Wine of the Year was awarded to a 2016 Prosecco from Allini Conegliano Valdobbiadene in Italy. The Rosé Wine of the Year went to Swedish Hill Vineyard & Winery from the New York Finger Lakes region for their Blue Waters Dry Rosé. Dessert Wine of the Year was awarded to Indiana’s Buck Creek Winery for their 2014 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine.

Trinchero Family Estates of Napa Valley, California, was awarded the Winery of the Year trophy, an award that honors the best international brand of the entire competition.

Allen Dossey of Purple Toad Winery in Kentucky was named the Winemaker of the Year.

Cooper’s Hawk Winery of Illinois walked away with the Label Design of the Year trophy honoring their bottle of Lineage Cabernet Franc-Merlot blend. Wisconsin’s SoLu Estate Winery was awarded the Packaging Design of the Year award for their Limited Release Traditional Estate Mead.

The INDY International Wine Competition has been organized by the Purdue Wine Grape Team since 1992.

“According to comments from our 50 professional wine judges, the 2017 INDY International wine entries were of unprecedentedly high quality across the board,” said Christian Butzke, chief judge of the INDY International and professor of food science at Purdue University. “The wines that were entered from 14 countries and 37 U.S. states showed an advancement in winemaking skill in both traditional appellations as well as up-and-coming regions that is quite remarkable. Global and local winemakers respond to both changing grape growing climates and consumer preferences. The INDY is a testbed for new styles. American wine drinkers are the most adventurous in the world and they do buy the most wine, so a wine competition is a great way for both producers and consumers to test the waters, or rather wines.”

For a list of all medal-winning wines, go to www.indyinternational.org.

Contact: Katie Barnett, 765-496-3842, vino@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415;
Shari Finnell, Manager/Media Relations and Public Information, sfinnell@purdue.edu  
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