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Chronicle Wine Competition Reaches New Plateau

Navarro, Geyser Peak and Anapamu Win Sweepstakes Awards

Cloverdale, California (February 2, 2001) — Boasting record numbers of vintners and entries, The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition awarded 981 medals to close the judging phase of the event. Twenty-five professional wine judges from all branches of the business swirled, sniffed and sipped their way through 1,228 entries from 240 wineries during the two-day competition. Consumers get their chance to taste the medal-winning wines on Saturday, March 10, 2001 at Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason, San Francisco. The public tasting, which includes food and vendor exhibits, should be an exciting addition to the Northern California wine industry and a great opportunity for consumers to sample wines from all of its growing regions.

“This judging is very consumer friendly,” said Robin Davis, a wine judge and Chronicle food and wine journalist. “The medal winners should have enormous appeal to Bay Area wine lovers. The results enable winemakers to assess the performance of their new releases as well.”

The most coveted honors, the Red and White Sweepstakes Awards were respectively given to the 1999 Anapamu Central Coast Syrah, the 2000 Geyser Peak Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc and the 1999 Navarro Anderson Valley Gewürztraminer.

The San Francisco Chronicle is the principal sponsor of the competition. Founded in 1983 as the Cloverdale Citrus Fair Wine Competition, the event has evolved over the years, broadening its base to a greater number of wine regions. It was renamed the California North Coast Wine Competition in 2000 when 682 wines from over 125 wineries were entered. Wines bottled in or made from grapes grown in all northern California counties, from Monterey to the Oregon border and east to the Sierra foothills, qualified for this year’s competition.

“I am really impressed by the number of renowned producers that entered this year,” said Bob Fraser, the competition’s executive director. “We have quality wines from all over Northern California.”

The Chronicle is fully committed to supporting the event in print and online promotions. Medal-winning wines and related stories will be featured in a special wine section of The Chronicle on the Wednesday before the tasting. Other highlights include 160 column inches of Chronicle advertising space, a four-week Chronicle promotional campaign spotlighting the medal-winning wines prior to the tasting, tremendous online support at chronicleevents.com and sfgate.com.

All medal-winning wineries will participate in the public tasting. Besides great wine, consumers will sample a variety of gourmet foods from a select group of Bay Area producers, restauranteurs and caterers. Wine industry associations and vendors will also be on hand.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Cloverdale Citrus Fair with wine education and culinary training programs at Santa Rosa Junior College as a beneficiary.

Look for more information at chronicleevents.com, sfgate.com and winejudging.com. Tickets are available via ticketweb.com or at the Fort Mason Box Office (415.441.FMTS).

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