2026 Award Winners and "Winemaker of the Year" Announced (April 2026) - The 18th Annual Winemaker Challenge is in the books, with talented judges finding all kinds of great wine across a wide range of varieties, prices and regions. The top scoring 2024 Navarro Vineyards Sangiovese from Mendocino, California took Domestic Wine of the Year honors with a 97 point score. Made by our 2023 Winemaker of the Year Jim Klein, it inspired 2025 Winemaker of the Year and honorary 2026 Chief Judge Chris Eberle to remark "I wish I had made this wine" - high praise from an industry peer. Import Wine of the Year went to the 2023 La Douleur Exquise Grenache from the south of France - an excellent value example imported by Penrose Hill. 
Our fifth annual Winemaker of the Year award goes to Mike Embly of Hungry Hawk Vineyards in San Diego County - the oldest wine region in California. Mike has been making wine on the family owned estate near the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park from the start, having planted the vines there in 2009. His talents also lead Hungry Hawk to the Winery of the Year prize with all of his wines scoring Gold Award or better. To have your wines evidence top quality across the board in a blind judging by fellow winemakers is a true honor. We're proud to recognize Mike's talents with this award, which includes an invitation to serve as our Honorary Chief Judge at the 2027 Winemaker Challenge. Other top performers included new producer Aadland-Moody of Napa Valley, Paso Robles' Eberle WInery and Truffle Pig Winery, a new player from southern California' s Temecula Valley. Barefoot took Best Value Brand honors, and Boisset Collection won the Wine Company of the Year award with a diverse stable of brands. In a very impressive showing, North Carolina's JOLO Vineyards hauled in several Gold Awards, showing that great wines can come from unexpected places. Thank you for visiting us here at WinemakerChallenge.com. I hope you'll take a few moments to peruse our results page, where you can view all of our medal winners, Director’s Awards, and reviews of our top wines - the Platinum Award winners. There are award-winning wines of all types and price ranges represented. You’ll no doubt find some wines you have yet to discover as well as old favorites. Thanks to all of our participating wineries – we look forward to celebrating your achievements again in 2027 at the 19th annual Winemaker Challenge. Cheers! Rich Cook, Director |
