January 22, 2006
Beyond Gold: Platinum
A wine judging, like life, is unpredictable: you often wonder how much luck is involved. But when a handful of Northwest wines comes out on top in competition after competition, you can be pretty sure it's because they're more than lucky: they're really, really good.
Starting with 233 Northwest wines (some good, some lucky) that had already won gold medals or better in 30 national and international wine competitions, a panel of judges assembled by Andy Perdue of Wine Press Northwest retasted everything and designated their 23 top selections as Platinum, 6 of them with the rare distinction of Double Platinum. Knockout!
Perdue with some of the Platinum wines
Andy spends half his time as the brains behind the Tri-City Herald website, the other half as editor of Wine Press Northwest (a quarterly magazine, an extensive online presence and a weekly e-newsletter). Started the Platinum thing six years ago. Unassuming, unprejudiced, he's got my vote for "Pope of Northwest Wine."
Double Platinum wines: Columbia Winery 2001 Columbia Valley Merlot; Vin du Lac 2003 Cabernet Franc; Jackson-Triggs 2003 Grande Reserve Sparkling Riesling Ice Wine; Sumac Ridge 2003 Gewurztraminer Ice Wine; Three Rivers 2002 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon; Thurston-Wolfe 2003 Burgess Vineyard Syrah.
Download a complete list of eligible wines and winners (PDF format).