By Winemaker Kiley Evans

The 2014 award season was been very kind to Ledger David Cellars, but how does one recap a season in which we entered only a few wine competitions and had stars emerge in each one? There are literally hundreds of competitions held annually throughout the country. Some producers like to tout 25 medals for an individual wine. Our philosophy on competitions is somewhat different. We could enter 30 or more wine competitions per year, but we prefer to enter only a few highly competitive and invitation-only contests so that our medals carry a bit more weight. In our eight competitions in 2014 we earned 17 medals. There isn’t room to mention each one individually, and that limitation always draws some less-than-kind glares from the wines not mentioned, so be kind to those wines when you visit Le Petit Tasting Room, but we can cover the major highlights.

First up, our 2011 Cabernet franc. By no means are producers of Cabernet franc in the Pacific Northwest few in number. In reality, we’re one of probably several hundred PNW producers when you consider Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, and Oregon. When we got the invitation from SIP Northwest to be considered in a “Best of the Best” competition we were flattered. When we got the news we won we were ecstatic. Look. The Cab franc is beaming, too.

Second in line is the 2011 Syrah. Syrah is a great match for the Ledger David Cellars estate vineyard. During the growing season Syrah obviously enjoys our east-facing slopes as it develops and ripens. We really enjoy the wine it produces, as well. The judges for Portland Monthly’s annual “Oregon’s 50 Best Wines” agreed. We ranked #35 in their tasting. There are easily 1,000 wines produced in Oregon in any given year. This distinction is both huge and humbling.

Last, but certainly not least, our 2011 Malbec. This is the first Malbec for Ledger David Cellars. We have always held Malbec in high regard and our site has produced some pretty good Malbec fruit, but we had to be certain we measured up before we took the plunge to bottle a varietal Malbec. When the wine was shipped to the 2014 Los Angeles International Wine Competition we had no expectations. A few weeks later we got the news: Gold Medal, 93 points, and the second highest rated domestic Malbec. Yep, quite a year!

With all of these things in mind and the end of our harvest season approaching we thought a little tribute to these wines to finish off the year would be fun so we are planning a “Best of the Best” weekend for Sat., Nov. 22 and Sun., Nov. 23. A $10 tasting fee will apply and we’ll have our three award winners available in their remaining limited quantities paired with small bites from Déjà Vu Bistro & Wine Bar in Jacksonville. Think we should make this an annual event?