Okanagan Falls, BC – April 17, 2018
Who says lightning cannot strike twice? Wild Goose Vineyards & Winery is proud to announce that it has won Best of Show at the 2018 Cascadia Wine Competition held recently in Washington State, for its 2017 Pinot Gris. Last year Wild Goose won best of show for the same variety, except it was the 2016 vintage.
Winemaker Hagen Kruger was ecstatic when he heard the news. “Words cannot express how excited we are here at Wild Goose! My winemaking team of Tanya and Nikolas did an amazing job bringing this wine together. We have been talking about this Pinot Gris since last fall, how fantastic it was. All of our growers did a terrific job in growing some of the best Pinot Gris in the Pacific Northwest. We could not do it without them!”
Hagen also went on to say, “I am sure the judges had a difficult time making this decision, however, we are so excited about this wine being produced here in the Pacific Northwest and excited for all the wineries here in the Okanagan. Pinot Gris is certainly becoming a benchmark wine for our growing region”
Wild Goose also had the remarkable accolade of winning best Pinot Noir for their Wild Goose 2016 Pinot Noir, and top Gewurztraminer for their 2017 Mystic River Gewurztraminer, one of Wild Goose’s single vineyard wines grown north of Oliver, BC. The Wild Goose 2017 Gewurztraminer, from the home vineyard in Okanagan Falls, was also awarded a Gold medal.
General Manager Roland Kruger was also thrilled about these recent results, “Wow! I am at a loss for words. To win 2 years in a row is quite an accomplishment. From over one thousand wines entered we are very grateful to everyone who helped in putting these wines together, it is truly a team effort. We are also very pleased at the result of our Pinot Noir as we have been working our red program over the last few years and it is great to see the recognition for these stunning wines”.
The Pinot Gris is now available at the winery, website store, and retailers throughout BC. Distribution is being finalized for retailers south of the border. Distribution into Alberta will begin in the next few weeks.
The Cascadia Wine Competition, operated by Great Northwest Wine, is the largest judging of Pacific Northwest wine staged in the U.S., and an international panel of 21 experts spent three days evaluating 1,012 wines using fruit from Washington, Oregon, Idaho or British Columbia.
Cascadia release: http://greatnorthwestwine.com/2018/04/16/wild-goose-vineyards-pinot-gris-repeats-as-cascadia-best-of-show/
