May 16th – Vina, California – At this year’s California State Fair Wine Competition, the oldest wine competition in the United States, one winery walked away with three of the six coveted Golden Bears. It is an incredible achievement for a double-blind competition. That means the judges and controllers of the event had no idea who any of the wine-producers were. They even have their own computer program used for this intricate judging process of nearly 2,000 entrees.
Wines were grouped by similar categories, such as the varietal Albariño, a Spanish grape grown in many parts of California. The judges were then given up to 12 wines at a time, and they grade either no medal, bronze, silver or gold. If all three judges give the entry a gold, it is deemed Double Gold. All Double Gold entries in each varietal come back to be judged again to determine which one is the Best Albariño in California.
This is exactly what happened to a Northern California winery in the tiny town of Vina. New Clairvaux Vineyard started in 2000 and planted such grapes as Albariño. It took 24 years before their vineyard earned its first 99-point, Double Gold Albariño with a Best of California standing. And that one did not even earn a Golden Bear.
This year they received a Golden Bear for a 99-point, Double Gold, Best of Show-White with their 2023 St. James Block Moschofilero, an aromatic Greek wine. Ironically, they took the Best of Show-White last year and won their first Golden Bear, with another Greek varietal, Assyrtiko. They are the first in the America’s to be growing both grapes.
They earned a second Golden Bear with their 2023 Poor Souls Block Barbera Rose that got a Best in Show-Pink, also 99-points, Double Gold. In addition to these stand out wines, they earned four more 99-point scored wines, some were deemed Best of California, others Best of Region, but they all received Double Gold medals. For so many high scoring wins, they won the ultimate achievement at this year’s competition with a third Golden Bear for “Golden State Winery of the Year”.
About New Clairvaux Vineyard
New Clairvaux Vineyard is the first Trappist-Cistercian Monastery in the Americas to grow, vinify and bottle its own wine. In 2000, the Monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux partnered with the Sunseri wine family, with Aimée Sunseri as their 5th generation CA winemaker. They produced the first New Clairvaux Vineyard wines in 2003 and Aimée wines from the Sunseri Vineyard in Napa in 2008.
