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Tag Archive for: gold medal

champions

St. James, MO – St. James Winery recently placed in the top 15 of the World Association of Wine and Spirits Writers and Journalists annual list of the 100 Top Wineries in the World.

This year St. James Winery has won three major international competitions, received 13 Best of Class awards, and earned more than 70 gold medals, once again making St. James Winery one of the most awarded wineries, not just in the United States but among wineries around the world.

“Our goal is for our grapes and wines to reflect the region where they are grown,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO at St. James Winery. “To be able to do this in the Midwest and compete at the international level shows that our efforts to evolve our grape growing and winemaking practices are paying off.”

St. James Winery’s winning year has been led by the phenomenal performance of its Friendship School White Wine—Pacific Rim Grand Champion, 95 points at Los Angeles, and Long Beach Grand Cru Best White Wine—and its Riesling, which won the John Rose Award for the Best in Riesling at the Finger Lakes Wine Competition and was named Best of Class at Pacific Rim.

“The credit goes to our winemaking and grape growing team, led by Executive Winemaker Andrew Meggitt,” said Hofherr. “Growing grapes and making wine in the Midwest is not easy. They’ve developed innovative techniques and processes to be able to compete at this level and achieve these excellent results.”

In addition to the award winning Riesling and Friendship School White, St. James Winery’s Moscato earned Best of Class at three international competitions: Pacific Rim, Riverside, and Los Angeles. The 2013 Vignoles won two Best of Class awards: Riverside International and New World International. Friendship School Red won Best of Class at Pacific Rim.

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. Founded by the Hofherr family in 1970, St. James Winery celebrating more than 40 years as a family owned and operated winery; St. James Winery wines are sold in 18 states. Find the winery online at www.stjameswinery.com.

The World Association of Wine and Spirits Writers and Journalists
(WAWWJ) is the global association of international wine writers. Every year, WAWWJ classifies wines and wineries that participate in international wine contests. Since 1996, the World Ranking Wines and Spirits (WRW) employs the results of international competitions to rank each wine and winery in order. Last year 630,000 wines were evaluated across almost 500 separate contests around the world.

champions

Harvest is in the air, and it’s a great time to be a grape in Missouri because September is Missouri Wine Month!

What better way to celebrate  than with some of your favorite award-winning wines from St. James Winery.

It’s been a banner year for us at wine competitions because our wines have won Grand Champion, Best White Wine, Best Riesling, Best of Class, and gold medals galore.

Whether you enjoy red or white, you’ll find something you love. Whether you enjoy sweet, semi-sweet, or dry wines, you’ll find a wine that matches your tastes. Mix and match  a 12-bottle case to automatically save 10%!

Country White Apple Cake

Apples are getting ripe, so it’s a great time to bake up a moist and delicious fresh apple cake.

Try this fall-favorite. Country White Apple Cake features St. James Winery’s Country White Wine, fresh apples, and pecans, and it’s topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting.

wine_chocolate

St. James Winery’s Raspberry or Cherry wines!

All our fruit wines are made with real fruit juices, which gives them as close to fresh ripe fruit taste as you can find in a bottle of wine.

Serve St. James Winery Raspberry or Cherry wines well-chilled. They pair beautifully with a big wine glass and an even bigger box of chocolates!

They also taste great alongside your favorite book, so……after dinner, St. James Winery recommends Todd Klimen’ s The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine, a book devoted to the fascinating story of the Norton grape.

For two different takes on the same Norton grape, sip along with our 2012 Cynthiana or 2009 Norton, which the San Francisco Chronicle just awarded Double Gold and Gold, respectively.


Some people might consider 13 an unlucky number, but 2013 was an exceptional year for St. James Winery located in St. James, Missouri. During the 2013 wine competition season, St. James Winery entered wines in 22 national and international wine competitions. By the end of the year, the winery recorded 15 Best of Class awards, 10 double gold awards, and 40 gold medals.

The Best of Class awards St. James Winery received went to Peach wine and 2012 Vignoles, each wine bringing home Best of Class three times; to Friendship School White which received two Best of Class awards; and to 2011 Estate Norton, Cynthiana, Moscato, Friendship School Red, Velvet White, Strawberry, and Raspberry which each received one Best of Class recognition.

“This is a family business, and just like parents aren’t always objective about their children, we might not be the most objective judges of our wines,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO of St. James Winery. “When I taste our Friendship School White or Vignoles, I think it’s wonderful, but when the LA Wine Competition designates those wines Best of Class it means that experienced wine judges think the wine is wonderful, too. Awards are third party validation of our exceptional quality.”

“We’re growing wines in a very special place, the Ozark Highlands AVA, and this area is continuing to be recognized as an emerging wine region,” said Hofherr. “Combine that with our passion for research, use of new techniques in the cellar, and the care we give our vines, and wines of exceptional quality and character are the result. The fact we receive these awards year in and year out prove our wines are among the best in the country.”

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. Celebrating more than 40-years as a family owned and operated winery, St. James Winery wines are sold in stores throughout the Midwest and the South. St. James Winery is online at www.stjameswinery.com.

St. James Winery at Los Angeles Wine Competition

Eight St. James Winery wines received 90 points or better, including two 97 point ratings, at the 2013 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, held May 15 and 16 at the Los Angeles County Fair. The LA Wine & Spirits Competition uses a 100 point rating scale for gold medal winning wines.

Best of Class winners were:

  • 2012 Vignoles (97 points)
  • Friendship School White (97 points)
  • Peach (91 points)

Other gold medal award winners include:

  • Cynthiana (92 points)
  • Blackberry (90 points)
  • Blueberry (90 points)
  • Mango (90 points)
  • Raspberry (90 points)

“Our 2012 Vignoles is absolutely amazing! The exceptional quality of the wine is thanks in part to last year’s drought. The lack of rainfall resulted in pristine Vignoles grapes,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO of St. James Winery. “Our Friendship White Wine is another wine that has traditionally done well for us, and over the years it’s won quite a few Best of Class awards in wine competitions.”

“It was also gratifying to see our fruit wines continue to be standouts in wine competition, too. This year at Los Angeles, Peach led the way with the Best of Class award,” Hofherr continued, “but Blackberry, Blueberry, Mango, and Raspberry were close behind with gold medals of their own. In fact, all 16 wines St. James Winery entered in LA, won medals, and half of those were gold medals.”

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. Founded by the Hofherr family in 1970, St. James Winery celebrating more than 40 years as a family owned and operated winery, St. James Winery wines are sold in 19 states and is online at www.stjameswinery.com.

St. James Winery’s Moscato has a new look this spring! But don’t worry because inside the bottle, it’s the same great wine you’ve come to know and love.

“>Moscato has a delicate nose filled with the aromas of dried apricot and pineapple. A semi-sweet white wine, our Moscato is a combination of crisp nectarine and apricot flavors, plus juicy notes of tropical fruit that culminate in a neat, clean finish. Moscato tastes great with salty bagel chips and Blue or Gorgonzola cheeses.

Fresh off gold medal wins at the Florida State Fair International and Jerry Mead’s New World International, “>St. James Winery Moscato is a great value at under $13/bottle (& case discounts apply!).

Moscato is part of our new Frontier Selections series, wines dedicated to the pioneering spirit that flourishes at St. James Winery. Look for new Frontier Selections labels on your favorites like Norton, Cynthiana, Vignoles, and Riesling in the months ahead.


The past year, 2012, proved to be another outstanding for St. James Winery in international wine competitions. For more than forty years, St. James Winery has maintained an unwavering commitment to excellence. As a result, this family owned winery is not only the most awarded winery in Missouri, once again, it’s also a one of the most awarded wineries in the United States.

“Our wines were very competitive in 2011. At the beginning of last year we hoped to do just as well in 2012,” said Peter Hofherr, CEO of St. James Winery, “but you never know because the final say goes to the wine competition judges. I’m excited to report that during 2012 we received 11 Best of Class awards, 8 double gold and 51 gold medals, plus nearly 200 additional silver or bronze medals!”

“Each year St. James Winery’s fruit wines continue to be real standouts in wine competition. We produce six fruit wines year ‘round, and every single one of those wines received multiple gold medals, and four of them – Blackberry, Peach, Raspberry, and Strawberry – received Best of Class awards,” said Hofherr. “We produce the most awarded fruit wines in the country, and because fruit wines are notoriously difficult to make, it’s safe to say St. James Winery is the premier producer of fruit wines in the US today.”

During the 2012 competition season, St. James Winery’s wines garnered a total of 11 Best of Class awards, 8 double gold, and 53 gold medals. And at the prestigious Los Angeles International Wine Competition, the only wine competition to assess point scores along with medals, St. James Winery once again this year had multiple wines scoring above 90 points: Blackberry (93/100), Country White (93/100), Cherry (92/100), Velvet White (92/100), Strawberry (90/100), Peach (90/100), and Raspberry (90/100).

“What’s really gratifying to the winemaking staff is to see wines like our St. James Winery Velvet White, one of the original wines produced here, still winning gold, double gold and best of class this year,” added Andrew Meggitt, executive winemaker at St. James Winery. “But at the same time, we’re also seeing our newer wines like Traminette or Raspberry, wines we’ve only made for a couple of years, also winning gold, double gold, and best of class.”

“Wine consumers are looking for value, the place where quality and price meet, and they’ve recognized Missouri is an emerging wine region,” said Hofherr. “St. James Winery is growing phenomenal fruit, crafting exceptional wines, and proving that great tasting wines don’t have to break your bank account.”

St. James Winery is the largest and most awarded winery in Missouri. Celebrating more than 40 years as a family owned and operated winery, St. James Winery wines are sold in stores throughout the Midwest and the South. St. James Winery is online at www.stjameswinery.com.

 

Download the Press Release.


At St. James Winery there aren’t any tricks involved in making our delicious wines. Still, sometimes when we taste the results, we wonder if maybe there was a little bit of magic involved after all.

Certainly, the results of the 2012 wine competition year have been magical. Here’s how some of your favorite wines have done.

Raspberry: 3 Best of Class, 5 Gold
Blackberry: 2 Best of Class, 2 Double-Gold, 3 Gold
Strawberry: 1 Best of Class, 8 Gold
Peach: Best of Show (Fruit), 1 Gold
Velvet White: 1 Best of Class, 1 Double-Gold, 1 Gold
Riesling: 1 Double Gold, 3 Gold
Friendship School White: 1 Double Gold, 3 Gold
Vignoles: 1 Best of Class, 1 Double Gold, 1 Gold
Rougeon Rose: 1 Double Gold, 1 Gold
Traminette: Best of Class, 1 Gold

Take advantage of our $15 flat rate shipping deal and have a case of gold medal goodness shipped straight to your front door!

PS–Remember, you’ll get our St. James Winery logo wine carrier absolutely free when you order 6 or more bottles of wine.