St. Julian Winery Scores Best of Show, Best of Class & Riesling Challenge Top Honors
East Meets West Wine Challenge
(PAW PAW, Mich) — It was a big year for St. Julian Winery at the annual East Meets West Wine Challenge, where the 2020 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate Riesling was awarded Best of Show, Best of Class and winner of the “Riesling Challenge” competition.
The 2020 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate Riesling also recently won Double Gold at the Tasters Guild Competition and at the Harvest Challenge, as well as receiving a Gold medal in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The fruit for this award-winning wine comes from the 22-acre Mountain Road Estate Vineyard in Coloma, which was established in 2007. Seven vinifera varietals are grown for small, premium-batch offerings including Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Sangiovese. The fruit from this vineyard is used for estate bottled Braganini Reserve varietals as well as Winemaker Series blends. In 2021, 70 tons of premium fruit were harvested from this vineyard alone.
“Our Mountain Road Estate Vineyard consistently produces excellent fruit, and our winemaking team continues to prove their skill,” says Sarah Braganini, owner/manager of the vineyard. “We are honored to receive these awards celebrating this beautiful wine.”
Best of Class medals were also presented to St. Julian for the 2020 Winemaker Series Harvest Select Gewürztraminer/Riesling as well as Sweet Nancie, named after St. Julian’s Vice President - Winemaking, Nancie Oxley. This sweet sparkling wine also recently received Best of Class, Best of Lake Michigan Shore AVA and Double Gold at the Harvest “Terroir” Challenge wine competition – the only competition to judge wines by American Viticultural Area, as well as earning Double Gold at the Indy International Wine Competition.
An additional seven medals (three Gold and four Silver) were presented to other wines in the St. Julian portfolio (see list below).
“To see our wines appreciated on a world stage is a huge honor,” says Nancie Oxley, St. Julian’s head winemaker. “All of these medals are testament to the time and effort our winemaking team puts in to creating premium products, but the award we are most proud of is winning the Riesling Challenge. Our 2020 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate is another example of how we continue to innovate and improve our winemaking process, and I am so proud of our team, from grape to glass, for what we have accomplished with this wine.”
St. Julian’s 2022 medals included:
BEST OF SHOW & RIESLING CHALLENGE WINNER
- 2020 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate Riesling
BEST OF CLASS
- 2020 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate Riesling
- 2020 Winemaker Series Harvest Select Gewürztraminer/Riesling
- Sweet Nancie
GOLD
- 2020 Braganini Reserve Lake Harvest Vignoles
- 2021 Braganini Reserve Mountain Road Estate Rose
- 2020 Braganini Reserve Traminette
SILVER
- 2017 Braganini Reserve Meritage
- 2020 Braganini Reserve Pinot Noir
- 2020 Winemaker Series Albariño/ Gewürztraminer
- 2018 Winemaker Series Double Barrel Merlot
Started in 1975, the East Meets West Wine Challenge is one of the oldest and longest-running wine competitions in the nation. Wines in this competition are judged simultaneously in two divisions: International Eastern Wine Competition and the West Coast Wine Competition, with traditional awards given in each division and the “Best of Show” winners moving on to compete in the “East Meets West Taste Off” to determine which wine reigns overall.
About St. Julian
St. Julian, Michigan’s largest and longest-operating winery, has been family-owned since its founding in 1921. In addition to the winery in downtown Paw Paw where they produce award-winning wines, sparkling juices, spirits and hard cider, St. Julian operates tasting rooms in Dundee, Frankenmuth, Rockford, Troy and Union Pier, and distributes to thousands of retail partners in the midwest.