Before you hold a taste test of the best wines from the year’s top 100 wineries, first you have to choose the top 100 wineries.
That’s exactly what Wine & Spirits Magazine has done – and after sampling more than 14,500 new wines from around the world, Sonoma’s own Ravenswood Winery made the cut.
“These are the top performers from around the world and they’ll be pouring their highest rated wines at our Top 100 event,” said magazine editor Joshua Greene in an article posted Monday in Wine Industry Advisor.
He said the 14,500-plus samples were made through blind tasting panels, and called the narrowed-down selection “some of the most talented winemakers working today.”
One of those winemakers is Joel Peterson, a microbiologist who founded Ravenswood in 1976. Today he is an active member of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance – and sometimes referred to as “the Godfather of Zin.”
Ravenswood, located on Gehricke Road in Sonoma, is described as the No. 1 producer of zinfandel worldwide. It made the magazine’s short list alongside wineries from elsewhere in Sonoma County and Wine Country, and from around California and the world, with some as far away as Greece and Australia. But it appears that no other Sonoma Valley wineries made this year’s top 100 list.
Having selected its top 100 wineries of the year for 2014, Wine & Spirits Magazine is prepared to host its 11th annual Top 100 Tasting Event on Oct. 21 at City View in San Francisco’s Metreon. The event is a benefit for San Francisco Baykeeper. For more information or to buy tickets, go to wineandspiritsmagazine.com/top100.
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