Award made at azcentral Arizona Wine Competition November 15 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Phoenix
Yavapai College’s Southwest Wine Center, won the Best In Show for its 2018 Viogner wine at the azcentral Arizona Wine Competition on November 15 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Phoenix. The award made it the top wine in the statewide competition. The white wine is made from grapes grown on the Verde Valley Campus and processed in the on-campus winery.
Michael Pierce, the director of enology at thet Wine Center, told Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas that the award was unexpected. However, he said the quality of the student-made wine should not be a surprise.
“There’s no excuse not to make a good product with how much energy the students bring,” he said Friday night, moments after the announcement. “We’ve got a nice (vineyard) site. We’ve got nice facilities. You’ve just got to put those together and support one another and you’ll get a good product.”
The Center won the Growers Cup for Best Rosé in the 2017 contest and has received other medals for its wines in previous years. It received a number of medals for its various wines. For example, in January 2019 it received a double gold medal for its Patada 2017 wine, a silver medal for its Malvasika Bianca 2017 wine, and a bronze medal for its Graciano 2017 and Red Storm 2017 wine.