Just like films and TV, wines have awards and they single out the best of the best
Healdsburg, CA March 12, 2024 – Judges sit around white cloth-draped tables in lab coats and begin tasting early, sometimes by 8 AM when their palates are fresh and untainted. In most large wine judging competitions, sniffing, swirling and tasting hundreds of wines may seem a dream come true, but this is intense work as wines are narrowed down to the few that take the gold, double gold and best of class medals.
Competitions last for days. Judges are all knowledgeable winemakers, winegrowers, sommeliers, wine critics or wine writers. These are experienced palates with endurance.
This season Ketcham Estate has been widely awarded for their top tier Allie’s Reserve Pinot Noir, Viognier and Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, among all of their other wines. Just a few awards include a gold medal and 95 points for our 2022 Viognier, a gold medal and 92 points for the 2020 Allie’s Reserve Pinot Noir and a double gold medal and 92 points for our 2019 CabRenee Cabernet Sauvignon. If you’d like to try these wines, let us know.
At the same time, locally here in foodie and wine-crazed Healdsburg, Ketcham is enjoying the coveted wine-by-the-glass spot for their Russian River Valley Pinot Noir on wine lists in top spots like The Montage, Valette, Rustic and the Yelp favorite Guiso Latin Fusion. In a highly competitive market, these wines are pouring so much that weekly deliveries have become the norm just to keep stock in the cellars.
Ketcham Estate is proud to be one of the few Sonoma County wineries to consistently produce a Viognier, a wine we consider to be so floral and feminine that it is the perfect accompaniment to your Womens’ Month celebrations. After all, these wines are made by an all-female team that grow the fruit, choose the blends and market the wines across the country at illustrious events like the recent Uncork for a Cause at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix, where Allie Ketcham rubbed elbows and clinked glasses with many players in the professional baseball world, in town for Spring Training.
And, in support of the always fantastic San Francisco Jazz Festival, Ketcham Estate will be there with their beloved Chardonnay. Look for the tongue-in-cheek stripe of cougar spots on the label for a good giggle.
More about Ketcham Estate:
Tucked away in a cool micro-climate in the Russian River Valley, Ketcham Estate vineyards are believed to be some of the oldest Pinot Noir plantings in the Valley, quite possibly the oldest remaining Pinot Noir from the early 1970s…and these vines are still producing beautiful fruit.
From these mature and sustainably-farmed rows of grapevines, planted to several different Pinot Noir clones, comes a variety of vineyard specific wines and clonal blends that are proudly produced by women; Allie Ketcham, the widow of winery founder Mark Ketcham, COO/Director Happiness Renee Graves and Winemaker Tami Collins. Together they craft wines of finesse and elegance.
In addition to an array of Pinot Noirs, Ketcham Estate also produces Burgundian-style Chardonnay, crisp and floral Viognier, Rose of Pinot Noir and selectively-sourced Cabernet Sauvignon, just because their members love a good cab!
