Celebration Of Chambourcin 2022

The inaugural Celebration of Chambourcin- A Wine Competition was judged November 12th in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Celebration of Chambourcin seeks to gain greater exposure for our favorite French-American hybrid.

The inaugural competition received entries from North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia.

The competition benefited from an amazing group of judges with varied wine certifications.

Our head judges Bill Fish and Alan Staton bring years of experience having past judged competitions such as Wines of The South, Asheville Wine and Food Festival, and the Palmetto Wine Competition. Bill and Alan are both American Wine Society certified judges and members of the French Broad Vignerons.

Judge Ben Labe is WSET 2 certified, employed with Biltmore Winery, and a member of the French Broad Vignerons, and previously judged the Asheville Wine Competition. Judge Lindsay Johnston is WSET 2 certified and a current level 3 student. She previously worked with Mountain Brook Vineyards in Tryon, North Carolina and previously judged the Palmetto Wine Competition.

Tom and Nancy Traver are WSET level 1 certified and well experienced wine competition judges. Tom and Nancy are our Southeastern regional wine experts with years of experience enjoying, critiquing, and judging wines from Virginia to Texas.

Our final two judges were Pam Rotz and Kimberly Craig. Pam is an experienced wine, mead, and cider judge having worked with JenNis Beverage Marketing. Kimberly is a WSET 2 student and a tasting room associate at Kefi Vineyards in Monroe, North Carolina.

Our panel of judges raved about our winning wine! Comments such as, very characteristic, very well balanced, pleasant finish, outstanding quality, great job, gold medal quality, great flavor profile.

The star of the show, the bell of the ball, the crown of the celebration, this years Best in Show Chambourcin comes from Virginia.

Winning Best in Show in the inaugural Celebration of Chambourcin is the 2018 estate grown Chambourcin from Mountain Run Winery in Culpepper, Virginia.

The 2018 Chambourcin from Mountain Run is 85% Chambourcin and 15% Petit Verdot. Fermented dry this double gold winning wine is aged 12 months in French oak barrels.

We had three additional gold medal winning wines in the inaugural Celebration of Chambourcin.

Estate grown Pea Ridge Red from Parker-Binns Vineyard in the Tryon Foothills of North Carolina earned a solid gold medal score. The Pea Ridge Red is 75% Chambourcin and 25% blended Cab Franc and Cab Sauv.

Fifty-Third Winery and Vineyard of Louisa, Virginia earned gold medal for the 2021 Estate grown Chambourcin. This 100% Chambourcin aged 9 months on American oak.

Our final gold medal awarded to Grapes and Ladders Vineyards and Winery of Ellijay, Georgia for the Coosa Rosé. An off-dry rosé of estate produced Chambourcin.

Eight entries earned a silver medal including the Rustic Red from Wellborn Winery in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, also the estate grown Chambourcin from Baker Buffalo Creek Vineyard in Lawndale, North Carolina, and a blended rosé Dusty’s Road from Enoree River Winery in Newberry, South Carolina.

Eight additional bronze medals were awarded.

Here’s to a successful inaugural Celebration of Chambourcin. We look forward to delivering medals to our participating wineries. Keep an eye out for those medal presentations coming in January of 2023.

We remain very sincerely thankful and forever grateful for those who have sponsored our competitions this year.

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We are members of the French Broad Vignerons and pool our judges from the organizations members. The French Broad Vignerons of Western North Carolina (FBV) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities for grape growing, wine making, evaluating, and enjoying wines in western North Carolina.