Get ready to taste and vote for your favorite Lake County wine at the 2015 People’s Choice Wine Tasting and Concert on July 25 at Moore Family Winery, the coolest (in temperature) place in Lake County. Sponsored by the Lake County Winery Association (LCWA), the tasting will feature 17 award winning Lake County wineries pouring a selection of their award winning wines from this year’s Lake County Wine Awards Competition.
The fun includes a blind tasting to decide the People’s Choice. Each participating winery has selected the wine that they believe is people’s favorite. Attendees will blind taste the wines and cast their votes for the People’s Choice. The results of the contest will be announced at 7:30 p.m. after the opening concert band. There will be food, bocce ball and dancing to the music of DJ extraordinaire Tony Barthel.
The People’s Choice event was created to invite the public to taste award winning wines from the Lake County Wine Awards Competition. The 2015 Competition was held in June at Langtry Estates under the direction of Bob Fraser. The panel of ten professional judges blind tasted a total of 171 wine entries on the first day of the judging. Winning wines were rewarded with Double Gold, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Best in Class medals in this portion of the competition.
The Best in Class wines moved to the Sweepstakes round held the following day. The judges blind tasted all Best of Class wines and awarded Sweepstakes red, white, rosé, and dessert. Taking the honors were Shooting Star’s 2013 Sauvignon Blanc for white sweepstakes and Gregory Graham’s 2011 Grenache for red sweepstakes. Shannon Ridge Family of Wines took home the pink sweepstakes with their 2014 High Valley Vineyard Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chacewater Winery scored the dessert sweepstakes award with their 2000 Dessert Wine, a 15 year old tawny port. The full results of the competition are available on-line at www.lakecowineawards org.
At 6 p.m., Moore Family Winery will offer dinner options for purchase or you can bring your own picnic to enjoy on the lawn. BoomBox, the Band, hailing from the Sacramento area will be playing in concert. Their repertoire of oldies but goodies and R&B will have you dancing and rocking the night away. Plan to bring a blanket or low back chair to enjoy the concert.
Want to win tickets to the People’s Choice? LCWA will give away three pairs of tickets to the event. Visit www.lakecountywineries.org/choice to find the answer to this question — “What’s the word for Lake County wine?” Email your answer to director@lakecountywineries.org. The first three people to send in the correct answer will each win a pair of tickets to the event.
Tickets are $40 per person and include wine tasting, glass, and concert. Designated Drivers are $15 and get to enjoy everything but the wine. For tickets and information, visit www.lakecountywineries.org. Tickets can also be purchased locally at Don Angel Cellars in Lakeport, Gregory Graham and Vigilance tasting rooms in Lower Lake, or at Moore Family Winery on Bottle Rock Road.
