This year’s awards recognize greatest wineries in North and South America
New York, NY (November 6, 2017) – Robert Parker Wine Advocate and RobertParker.com, the world’s most widely read independent consumers’ guide to fine wine, announced on Monday the recipients of the publication’s very first annual Extraordinary Winery Awards.
The newly launched Robert Parker Wine Advocate Extraordinary Winery Awards were presented last week at a gala Star Dinner in New York City’s Ziegfeld Ballroom. The event was hosted as the first collaborative event in the USA between the New York City MICHELIN Guide 2018, the restaurant industry’s most famous and trusted critical guide, and Robert Parker Wine Advocate, the globally renowned benchmark standard in wine criticism.
“Each year our review team travels the entire wine world seeking out wine greatness first-hand,” explained Robert Parker Wine Advocate Editor-in-Chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. “The annual Extraordinary Winery Awards recognizes those wineries that we believe sit qualitatively above all others within the greatest wine regions of the world. On October 30, 2017, we highlighted the pinnacles of greatness in North and South America with our first set of awards. For each region, we had up to three nominees and one winner, as selected by the reviewer for that region, myself and Robert Parker – our publication’s namesake and president.”
The nominees and winners for each category were as follows:
Best Napa Valley Winery 2017
- Abreu
- Harlan Estate – WINNER
- Outpost
Best Sonoma County Winery 2017
- Aubert
- Marcassin – WINNER
- Peter Michael
Best California Central Coast Winery 2017
- Alban
- Saxum
- Sine Qua Non – WINNER
Best Oregon Winery 2017
- Bethel Heights – WINNER
- Cristom
Best Washington State Winery 2017
- Cayuse
- K Vintners
- Quilceda Creek – WINNER
Best Chile Winery 2017
- De Martino
- Errazuriz – WINNER
- Seña
Best Argentina Winery 2017
- Aleanna
- Catena Zapata – WINNER
- Per Se
2017 Under the Radar Winery Award – Americas
- Hermann J. Wiemer, Finger Lakes
- Rex Hill, Oregon – WINNER
- Alcohhuaz, Chile
The final award was the 2017 Lifetime Winemaker Achievement Award – The Americas. This is the publication’s highest honor, specifically dedicated to a winemaker who has contributed enormously to improving the quality of wine for his or her major area and for the world in general. The very first Lifetime Winemaker Achievement Award for The Americas went to Helen Turley.
“Helen Turley is a pioneer throughout California’s North Coast, having been a winemaker, consultant and mentor for many of the greatest wineries throughout Napa Valley and Sonoma County,” Lisa Perrotti-Brown noted at the awards ceremony. “Just a few of the wineries she has helped to forge into modern day legends include: Colgin, Bryant Family, Peter Michael, Pahlmeyer and Martinelli, while mentoring some of today’s superstars such as Mark Aubert, Heidi Barrett and Philippe Melka. Helen Turley undoubtedly helped to set the highest standard for wine greatness that defines Napa Valley and Sonoma County wines today. Today she and husband John Wetlaufer manage the iconic vineyard and production for one of the most sought-after wines in the world: Marcassin.”
More information about the selection process and judging of the Extraordinary Winery Awards can be found here. Forthcoming information about future Extraordinary Winery Awards covering the rest of the wine world will be released in January 2018.
About Robert Parker Wine Advocate
For more than 39 years, The Wine Advocate, and later RobertParker.com, have been the global leader and independent consumer’s guide to fine wine. The brand was established by the internationally recognized Robert M. Parker, Jr., the only critic in any field to receive the highest Presidential honor from three countries – France, Italy and Spain. Robert Parker Wine Advocate provides a wealth of information to its subscribers, including a searchable database of more than 300,000 professional wine ratings and reviews, in addition to articles, videos, daily news content, online retail availability and pricing, an active, professionally moderated bulletin board, a mobile app for easy access to the comprehensive online database of reviews, and much more. For more information, visit www.RobertParker.com.
