Bluestone Vineyard Earns 3 Gold Medals at Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Competition Bluestone Vineyard Awarded a Total of 15 Medals
March 11, 2022
Bridgewater, VA- Bluestone Vineyard’s 2017 Valley Red, 2017 Cabernet Franc, and 2017 Blue Ice earned gold medals at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Competition. In another record-setting year, world-class judges sampled over 600 entries from 65 wineries. Bluestone accounted for 3 gold medals and twelve silver medals.
Bluestone Vineyard’s Valley Red, a blend of two-thirds Petit Verdot and one-third Merlot, is a blend especially prepared for the Harrisonburg restaurant, The Local Chop and Grill House. The grapes come from Silver Creek Vineyards in Tyro, Virginia at one of their higher elevation vineyards. It was aged in American and Hungarian oak barrels. It is a big, bold wine with high tannins and dark fruit.
“I am very proud that the judges included me in the company of some of my favorite winemakers and mentors in the Virginia Wine Industry. It is exciting to be a part of showing how Virginia has a world-class wine industry that is producing outstanding wines especially in the Shenandoah Valley,” said Lee Hartman, Bluestone’s winemaker.
The Virginia Governor's Cup, one of the most stringent competitions in the United States, is hosted by the Virginia Wineries Association, in partnership with the Virginia Wine Board and the Virginia Vineyards Association. Judges evaluate the wines based on appearance, aroma, flavor, overall quality, and commercial suitability giving each wine a score up to 100 points. Wines that score between 90 and 100 points are awarded gold and considered to be outstanding wines.
Estate grown 2017 Cabernet Franc earned a gold medal rating. These grapes came from the first harvest from the newer vines on the property to the east of the main estate. Grown on our highest elevation block (at 1,300-1,400 feet), this wine is all free run juice that did not go into the press and macerated for four weeks on the skins. Aged in 50% new French oak gives structure to notes of cherry and plum. The wine is a good candidate for aging because it is smooth, high in acid, and has good aromatics. Made from clone 214 and clone 327 it has more intense flavors and structure as well as beautiful color and nice aromatics. The 2017 Cabernet Franc now has a total of 9 medals from various competitions.
2017 Blue Ice is also an estate grown wine that landed in the top tier of wines with a gold medal. Made from frozen grapes, the juice comes out of the press with much higher sugar content, making it a concentrated, delicious dessert wine. Having won gold medals in various international competitions, this is Bluestone’s fourth gold medal for Blue Ice in the Virginia Governor’s Cup. Earlier this year, the 2017 vintage scored 95 out of 100 points earning double gold at the 2022 East Meets West International Eastern Wine Competition where wines are entered from all over the world.
“I'm honored to have received three gold medals in this year's Virginia Governor's Cup, the competition that we at Bluestone put the most stock in. We were privileged with a great harvest year in 2017 with all the gold medals this year coming from that vintage. I've loved these wines since the grapes came in from the field, and I'm humbled that the judges felt the same,” said Hartman.
Full list of medals won by Bluestone Vineyard includes:
- Gold: 2017 Valley Red, 2017 Cabernet Franc, and 2017 Blue Ice
- Silver: 2015 Houndstooth, 2020 Odd Bird, 2017 Quartz Hill Red, 2019 Cabernet Franc, 2019 Viognier, 2017 Petit Verdot, 2019 Merlot, Beau, 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2019 Stainless Steel Chardonnay, 2017 The Steep Face, 2017 Houndstooth
For more information about Bluestone Vineyard and the wines, please visit www.bluestonevineyard.com, call 540-828-0099 or contact winemaker Lee Hartman at lee@bluestonevineyard.com.
