Congrats to Luca and the entire Barboursville team on winning the Governor's Cup tonight!! #vawine http://t.co/DuofDvDIHZ
—
VirginiaWine.org (@VAWine) February 22, 2013
RICHMOND (WTVR) – Gov. Bob McDonnell declared Barboursville Vineyard’s 2009 Octagon 12th Edition the winner of Virginia’s Governor’s Cup. Barboursville has become the first Virginia winery to win the award four times. [See list of past winners]
For Luca Paschina, general manager and winemaker for Barboursville Vineyards, the Virginia Governor’s Cup is another affirmation that the vineyard’s efforts to produce quality wine are not in vain.
“It’s a project we’ve been working on for two decades. It makes us feel like we are doing the right thing,” Paschina says.
The award-winning Octagon is only produced when the conditions are favorable to producing the vintage wine.
In the tasting, the wine was described as a dry yet somewhat fruity wine, having a deep garnet color with aromas of chocolate, red berries, cranberries.
Paschina says he and his team have dedicated two decades to perfecting the flavor of this wine.
“We have received a lot of awards from the West Coast. This wine recently received three gold medals from California,” Paschina says.
The wine won 90 points at the Wine Enthusiast, the Gold Medal of the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago, as well as the Winemaker’s Challenge and Critics Challenge in California and the Platinum Medal of the Sommelier Challenge in California.
McDonnell says Luca’s Octagon wine is among his favorites from the Virginia wine industry.
“I am confident that wine aficionados and enthusiasts alike will take notice of Octagon and the other impressive offerings in this case,” McDonnell added during last night’s Governor’s Cup awards, “The advancements in Virginia winemaking are on display in every bottle we have here tonight and the stringent requirements of the Governor’s Cup competition ensure that Virginia wines receiving medals have been through the most demanding evaluation process. “
The Octagon wine will be released Aug. 1, Paschina says.
The tastings for the Governor’s Cup Competition took place over the course of two weeks. Preliminary tastings were held at the Capital Wine School in Washington D.C., and the 12 highest scoring wines, out of 377, were then selected as part of the 2013 Governor’s Cup Case.
The 11 other wines that competed against Barboursville’s Octagon included:
- Cooper Vineyards – 2010 Petite Verdot Reserve
- King Family Vineyards – 2010 Meritage
- Lovingston Winery – 2009 Josie’s Knoll Estate Reserve (Meritage)
- Philip Carter Winery – 2012 Cleve (Petite Verdot, Tannat)
- Pollack Vineyards – 2009 Cabernet Franc Reserve
- Potomac Point Vineyard and Winery – 2010 Richland Reserve Heritage (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat, Petite Verdot)
- Rappahannock Cellars – 2010 Meritage
- RdV Vineyards – 2010 Rendevous (Meritage)
- RdV Vineyards – 2010 Lost Mountain (Meritage)
- Sunset Hills Vineyard – 2010 Mosaic (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot)
- Trump Winery – 2008 Sparkling Rose (Chardonnay, Pinot Nior)
The Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office will use at least 10 cases of the various wines included in the Governor’s Cup Case to promote Virginia wines to a national and international audience.
Barboursville Winery is located at 17665 Winery Road, Barboursville, Va. Click here to visit their Facebook page.
