Washington Wineries Named In Top 100

6 Washington wineries named in top 100 wines in the world.

1) Patti Payne, Puget Sound Business Journal

2) Chateau Ste. Michelle and five other Washington wineries made this year’s Wine & Spirits Magazine top 100 wineries list.

3) Six Washington wineries made Wine and Spirits Magazine’s top 100 wineries of the year.

Those wineries are Andrew Will, aMaurice Cellars, Cadence, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Gramercy Cellars and L’Ecole N° 41.

“Our blind tasting panels assessed more than 14,500 new wine releases this year — a record number — making the selection of our Top 100 Wineries that much more competitive,” said Wine & Spirits editor and publisher Joshua Greene, in a press release.

Some of these wineries have won this honor multiple times. This marks the 20th year of this award for Chateau Ste. Michelle.

“Ste. Michelle is honored to be selected on this prestigious list of top 100 wineries from around the world,” said Ste. Michelle’s Lynda Eller. She credited the hard work “of the entire winery team from the vineyard managers to the winemakers and the winery staff.”

This is the 13th consecutive year L’Ecole has earned this distinction. I reached co-owner Marty Clubb out in the fields tasting grapes.

This is a wonderful but fast and furious harvest,” Clubb told me. “A mirror image of last year.”

Regarding the award, Clubb said that while some people rely on numbers and ratings to select their wines, this award, winning it time and time again, speaks to the longevity and consistency and quality in every bottle.

In October Wine & Spirits will hold its Top 100 Tasting in San Francisco, an event planned to recognize this year’s Top 100 recipients and where they will pour their highest rated wines. Ste Michelle will be pouring its Eroica Riesling and its Artist Series Heritage.

Meanwhile, the highly awarded Woodinville-based DeLille Cellars has been nominated for another coveted honor: Wine Enthusiast Magazine editors’ awards for outstanding achievements in the wine and beverage world. DeLille has been nominated with four other wineries from the United States for the best American winery award. The other four wineries are: Channing Daughters of New York; Fetzer Vineyards of California; Jordan Winery of California; and Ken Wright Cellars of Willamette Valley, Oregon.

“We are one of only five wineries out of over 8,000 in the United States to be nominated,” said Greg Lill, DeLille co-owner, who was clearly thrilled. “We are extremely humbled and honored and look forward to hopefully being in New York as the actual winner in January. Just to be nominated is quite feather in our cap.”

The winner will be announced in the special December 31 Wine Star Awards issue, and the honorees will be presented their Wine Star Award trophies at a gala black-tie dinner in New York City in January.