HOOD RIVER, Ore. – The fourth annual Cascadia Wine Competition took place this month and we are honored to announce that Helvetia Winery was awarded a silver medal for our 2014 Estate Pinot Noir.

The judging attracted more than 1,000 entries from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho. Twenty-two wine professionals from across the Pacific Northwest served as judges.

The Cascadia Wine Competition is sponsored by CascadiaNow!, a nonprofit organization formed to foster awareness of the Cascadia bioregion.

Our 2014 Estate Pinot Noir was harvested on October 8, our earliest harvest until 2015. This wine is a robust, fruit-forward pinot with aromas of black cherry, vanilla, tobacco and black pepper and flavors of blackberry, current, and hints of cacao. Its lingering finish pairs well with salmon, beef or pork tenderloin or a meat dish with mole’.

According to the sponsors, all wines were tasted blind by a panel made up of 12 women and 10 men including winemakers, sommeliers, journalists, retailers and marketers. Ken Robertson, longtime columnist for Wine Press Northwest magazine, served as chief judge. The judges do not know the winery or the price while they are evaluating the wines.

The competition is managed by Great Northwest Wine, an award-winning news and information company owned by Degerman and Perdue. Between them, the two have more than 35 years of combined experience writing about the wines, vineyards and chefs of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho. They founded Wine Press Northwest magazine in 1997 for the Tri-City (Wash.) Herald and edited the quarterly glossy consumer magazine through 2012.

More than 3,000 bottles of Northwest wine are set up in the backroom at the 2016 Cascadia Wine Competition, held at the Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Ore. The wines are poured in the backroom, then served to judges in another room so they cannot see which wines are being evaluated. (Photo by Andy Perdue/Great Northwest Wine)

Cascadia Wine Competition judges

The judges for the fourth annual Cascadia Wine Competition were:

• Kristine Bono, tasting room manager, Goose Ridge Estate Winery, Richland, Wash.
• Amberleigh Brownson, co-owner/sommelier, Eat Restaurant, Bellingham, Wash.
• Daniel Carr, co-owner/executive chef, Visconti’s Restaurants/Cured by Visconti’s, Wenatchee, Wash.
• Big John Caudill, sales manager, Cuvee Northwest, Yakima, Wash.
• Mary Cressler, sommelier/journalist, Vindulge.com, Portland, Ore.
• Jay Drysdale, winemaker, Bella Wines, Naramata, British Columbia.
• Ilene Dudunake, owner, A New Vintage Wine Shop, Meridian, Idaho
• Don Elsing, tasting room manager, Fielding Hills Winery, East Wenatchee, Wash.
• Shelly Fitzgerald, sommelier/wine educator, Columbia Winery, Woodinville, Wash.
• Megan Hughes, enologist, Barnard Griffin, Richland, Wash.
• Ellen Landis, sommelier/journalist, Vancouver, Wash.
• Richard Larsen, research winemaker, Washington State University, Richland, Wash.
• Chris Nishiwaki, journalist, Mercer Island, Wash.
• Leslie Preston, co-owner/winemaker, Coiled Wines, Garden City, Idaho
• April Reddout, wine program manager, Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, Prosser, Wash.
• Stephen Reustle, winemaker, Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards, Roseburg, Ore.
• Yashar Shayan, proprietor, ImpulseWine.com, Seattle
• Pat Spangler, owner/winemaker, Spangler Vineyards, Roseburg, Ore.
• Coco Umiker, winemaker, Clearwater Canyon Cellars, Lewiston, Idaho
• Gordy Venneri, co-owner/co-founding winemaker, Walla Walla Vintners, Walla Walla, Wash.
• Randa Wolf, wine director, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Ore.
• Jean Yates, president, Oregon Wine Marketing, Monroe, Ore.