Purdue Hosts INDY International Wine Competition
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWashington state wines took some of the top prizes at Purdue University’s INDY International Wine Competition May 24-25. The event featured over 2,000 wine entries, making it the largest independently organized wine competition in the country.
This competition, organized by the Purdue Wine Grape Team, has been an ongoing event for the past 25 years. Entrants hailed from 37 U.S. states and 14 countries and had their wines blindly evaluated based on their aromas and tastes.
Chief Judge of the INDY International, Christian Butzke, stated, “The wines that were entered from 14 countries and 37 U.S. states showed an advancement in winemaking skill in both traditional appellations as well as up-and-coming regions that is quite remarkable… The INDY is a testbed for new styles. American wine drinkers are the most adventurous in the world and they do buy the most wine, so a wine competition is a great way for both producers and consumers to test the waters, or rather wines.”
Major trophies of the year included the Wine of the Year trophy, which was awarded to Mercer Estates Winery from Washington state for their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon and the Winery of the Year trophy, won by the Trinchero Family Estates of Napa Valley, California. Winemaker of the Year was then awarded to Allen Dossey of Purple Toad Winery in Kentucky.
Washington state proved to be an important competitor with their wins of these two prestigious trophies; White Wine of the Year which went to College Cellars for their 2016 Muscat Ottonel and the 2017 Red Wine of the Year which was awarded to Barrister Winery’s 2013 Petit Verdot.
Other major trophies included the Sparkling Wine of the Year, awarded to a 2016 Prosecco from Allini Conegliano Valdobbiadene in Italy and the Rosé Wine of the Year, which went to Swedish Hill Vineyard & Winery from the New York Finger Lakes region for their Blue Waters Dry Rosé. The Dessert Wine of the Year was then awarded to Indiana’s Buck Creek Winery for their 2014 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine.
Cooper’s Hawk Winery of Illinois finished with the Label Design of the Year trophy for their Lineage Cabernet Franc-Merlot blend and Wisconsin’s SoLu Estate Winery was awarded the Packaging Design of the Year award for their Limited Release Traditional Estate Mead.
You can see the full list of winners by clicking here.