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If there’s a phrase to sum up the primary Arkansas High quality Wine competitors, it could be “our cup runneth over.”
The Could 19 wine competitors, held within the meals science amenities on the Milo J. Shult Agricultural Analysis and Extension Middle, drew 52 entries from eight of the state’s 16 industrial wineries.
On this section, knowledgeable wine judges from Arkansas and Texas evaluated sensory attributes akin to shade, aroma, taste and mouth really feel. The wines will even bear additional evaluation, to take a look at traits akin to alcohol, unstable acidity and sulfur dioxide ranges. After evaluation, wines that earned gold or silver medals within the wine competitors might be eligible to hold the Arkansas High quality Wine seal.
“My objective for this primary annual wine competitors was to have 30-50 industrial wines entered, so this exceeded my expectations for the variety of wines, particularly contemplating the constraint that the wine needed to be made with 90 p.c Arkansas-grown grapes,” mentioned Renee Threlfall, director of the Arkansas High quality Wine program. Threlfall, a Ph.D., can also be a analysis scientist for the College of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “There have been extra pink wines than I anticipated however illustration of grape varieties and types of wine, typical for a contest.
“Greater than 60 p.c of the wines that had been submitted to the wine competitors earned a medal, displaying us that the Arkansas wine trade has high quality wines for our wine shoppers,” she mentioned.
Her work is a part of analysis executed by division’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
The competitors is a part of AQW’s efforts to set high quality requirements for Arkansas-made wine, present skilled improvement for growers and winemakers and entice shoppers to style the fruit of the state’s vines and their distinctive flavors.
This system was established final 12 months as a part of a challenge funded by a specialty crop block grant from the Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Threlfall invited in three judges, Justin Scheiner, Ph.D., assistant professor and viticulture specialist from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Michael Cook dinner, viticulture program specialist for north Texas with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and Lorri Hambuchen, writer and proprietor of The Wine Middle in Little Rock.
Scheiner mentioned he continued “to be impressed with the breadth and high quality of wines popping out of Arkansas. The judges had been introduced with top quality muscadine, hybrid, and vinifera wines produced in a variety of types.”
Cook dinner mentioned he and the opposite judges “evaluated a considerable variety of entered wines, which made our jobs even harder as there have been many well-made wines to attain.
“To my shock, there was a variety of wine types submitted, from dessert to dry, fruity to rustic, deep purple to orange to pink to amber,” he mentioned. “Merely put, there was plenty of selection. I used to be additionally happy to see such range with the forms of varietal and wine blends. Wines had been produced from muscadines, hybrids, European varieties, or a mix of a number of.
“You by no means know what you’re going to discover when evaluating wines submitted to a brand-new wine competitors,” Cook dinner mentioned. “I used to be impressed with the standard and in some circumstances, individuality of some wines.
The wines had been scored on a variation of the 20-point system created by the College of California at Davis. Wines incomes 17-20 factors earned gold medals, 15-16 factors earned a silver medal, and 13-14 factors earned a bronze medal.
The Winners
Better of Present — Submit Vineyard, Prophecy
Greatest White Wine — Mount Bethel Vineyard Viognier
Greatest Purple Wine — Submit Vineyard, Prophecy
Greatest Rose/Blush — Submit Vineyard, Pink Muscadine
Greatest dessert/fortified wine — Keel’s Creek Vineyard, 2014 port, Massive C
Double gold medal winners
To earn a double gold, a wine should earn a gold medal vote from each decide. Two wines earned that honor:
Submit Vineyard Blue Parachute
Mount Bethel Vineyard Viognier
Single gold medal winners
Keel’s Creek Vineyard, 2014 port, Massive C
Mount Bethel Vineyard, Vignoles
Submit Vineyard, Prophecy
Submit Vineyard, Pink Muscadine
Silver medal winners
Chateau Aux Arc, 2018 Cynthiana
Chateau Aux Arc, 2018 Dahlem’s Purple
Keel’s Creek Vineyard, Candy Spring
Keel’s Creek Vineyard, 2018 Chardonel
Submit Vineyard, 2018 Chambourcin
Submit Vineyard, Ives Noir
Submit Vineyard, White Muscadine
Rusty Tractor Vineyards, Enchantment
Rusty Tractor Vineyards, Valvin Muscat
Rusty Tractor Vineyards, Vignoles
Wiederkehr Wine Cellars Cynthiana
Wiederkehr Wine Cellars white muscadine
Bronze medal winners
Chateau Aux Arc, 2015 Cynthiana
Chateau Aux Arc, 2016 Cynthiana
Chateau Aux Arc, 2016 Splinters
Chateau Aux Arc, 2016 Dragonfly Purple
Chateau Aux Arc, 2016 Altage
Mount Bethel Vineyard Purple Mix
Mount Bethel Vineyard White Muscadine
Submit Vineyard Purple Muscadine
Submit Vineyard Sherry
Rusty Tractor Vineyards Chambourcin
Rusty Tractor Vineyards 2019 Cynthiana
Rusty Tractor Vineyards Traminette
Rusty Tractor Vineyards Muscadine
Wiederkehr Wine Cellars Purple Muscadine
Threlfall mentioned all of the wines, medal or not, will get a radical evaluation by her graduate pupil, Amanda Fleming.
“That is a part of her grasp’s thesis analysis and can assist us decide what’s happening within the wines that didn’t earn a medal,” Threlfall mentioned.
“Right here we might be shade attributes like pink shade, browning and turbidity, in addition to acidity, alcohol, residual sugar, dissolved oxygen, stability, unstable acidity alcohol and sulfur dioxide ranges,” Threlfall mentioned.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Arkansas Quality Wine program.
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