Mountain Brook Vineyards, among Polk County’s newest wineries, earned two medals for its wines at the San Francisco International Wine Competition held June 20-22 in downtown San Francisco. This event, now in its 34th year, is considered the largest and most influential wine competition in America.
Mountain Brook Vineyards was awarded a Silver medal for its 2012 Chardonnay and a Bronze medal for its 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. This year’s competition had entries from over 1400 wineries in 26 states and 31 countries. Over 4,700 wines were judged by a panel of nationally recognized wine experts. A list of winners will be featured in September’s issue of The Tasting Panel magazine.
These awards follow two medals received in March from the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in Rochester, NY. The same Chardonnay won a Silver medal and a 2010 Bordeaux blend won a Bronze medal out of over 3,700 wines entered.
Owners and operators Dennis and Miriam Lanahan first planted in 2002, selling grapes for about 10 years to Biltmore Estate’s winery in Asheville, N.C. They opened their winery and tasting room on Aug. 23, 2013. Today they have seven acres planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Verdot grapes. “We’re small as vineyards go,” Lanahan said, “but we’re trying to concentrate on quality.”

-article submitted
by Gina Malone