Final voting for the 2011 Reader Survey has begun! Readers may vote for one of the finalists for 2011 Wine of the Year and one of the finalists for 2012 Wine to Watch. Please note that voting more than one time is not allowed, and I am monitoring the voting closely. Voting ends Friday 12/16.
To reiterate, all of these wines were reader nominated and finalists were selected by preliminary voting by readers (see below). The finalists this year – the top five vote getters – are, in alphabetical order:
2011 Wine of the Year Finalists
Betz Family Winery 2008 La Cote Patriarche Syrah Yakima Valley
DiStefano 2007 Domenica Red Wine Columbia Valley
Gramercy Cellars 2008 John Lewis Reserve Syrah Walla Walla Valley
Gramercy Cellars 2009 Syrah Walla Walla Valley
Spring Valley Vineyard 2007 Uriah Red Wine Walla Walla Valley
2012 Wine to Watch Finalists
Adams Bench 2009 Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon Yakima Valley
Buty 2010 Rediviva of Stones Red Wine Walla Walla Valley*
Efeste 2010 Merlot Klipsun Vineyard Red Mountain
Reynvaan Family Vineyards 2010 Stonessence Syrah Walla Walla Valley
Walla Walla Vintners 2010 Cabernet Franc Walla Walla Valley
* Note: It seems unlikely the 2010 vintage will be released this year as the winery is currently on the 2008 vintage but I decided to leave it in the voting due to the large voter response.
Wine of the Year is intended for the one Washington wine that stood out for you above others in 2011. Wine to Watch is intended for a Washington wine to be released in 2012 that you are most looking forward to.
Preliminary voting results are below. Please note that I unfortunately had to remove one of the wines from consideration from final voting due to extensive evidence of over voting by individuals. I was also forced to close the poll early to prevent additional over voting. My apologies to anyone I inconvenienced, except of course the people in question! I will be monitoring the final voting very carefully. Any evidence of multiple voting may, again, lead to a wine being disqualified so please vote only once and please vote honestly!
Each year some have asked me what the point is of the Reader Survey. My intention starting the Reader Survey four years ago was to hear about what Washington wines my readers thought were most exciting from the year gone by and what wines they were most excited about being released in the coming year. That goal remains.
It is, unfortunately, somewhat difficult to maintain the integrity of the survey, as some readers and wineries marshal forces to support specific wines – which is of course perfectly fine – and some people look for ways to vote multiple times – which is, of course, not. Despite this, many have told me each year that they enjoy the survey and look forward to it, and this remains a reader survey – a survey for you.
Preliminary Round Results 2011 Wine of the Year
|
Mansion Creek ‘08 Waldheim – Note: Disqualified due to multiple votes from the same individual(s). |
115 (18%) |
|
DiStefano ‘07 Domenica |
113 (18%) |
|
Gramercy ‘08 John Lewis |
49 (7%) |
|
Betz ‘08 La Cote Patriarche |
45 (7%) |
|
Spring Valley ‘07 Uriah |
43 (6%) |
|
Gramercy ‘09 WWV Syrah |
42 (6%) |
|
Cadaretta ‘10 SBS |
37 (5%) |
|
Gramercy ‘09 Third Man |
37 (5%) |
|
SOH ‘09 Funkadelic Syrah |
34 (5%) |
|
A Bench ’08 Red Willow Cab |
32 (5%) |
|
Ch. Ste. Michelle ‘09 Eroica |
32 (5%) |
|
Efeste ‘08 Jolie Bouche |
29 (4%) |
|
Abeja ‘07 Reserve Cab |
27 (4%) |
|
Woodward ‘08 Old Vines Cab |
26 (4%) |
|
Reynvaan ‘09 Stonessence |
25 (4%) |
|
Rotie ‘09 Northern Blend |
25 (4%) |
|
Cayuse ‘08 Cailloux Syrah |
24 (3%) |
|
Fidelitas ‘08 Ciel Cabernet |
24 (3%) |
|
Two Vintners ‘10 G Blanc |
21 (3%) |
|
Woodward ‘09 Chard WWV |
21 (3%) |
|
Kerloo ‘09 Tempranillo |
20 (3%) |
|
Rasa ‘08 Creative Impulse |
20 (3%) |
|
Covington ‘07 Bruno |
19 (3%) |
|
Tero Estates ‘07 Reserve Cab |
18 (2%) |
|
Owen Roe ‘09 Ex Umbris |
17 (2%) |
|
Leonetti ‘08 Cabernet |
16 (2%) |
|
Abeja ’08 Cabernet |
15 (2%) |
|
Hestia ‘09 Malbec |
15 (2%) |
|
Reynvaan ‘09 In the Rocks |
15 (2%) |
|
Hestia ‘08 Merlot |
14 (2%) |
|
Maison Bleue ‘09 Le Midi |
14 (2%) |
|
Heaven’s Cave ‘08 The Dweller |
13 (2%) |
|
Covington ‘08 Bruno |
12 (1%) |
|
Corliss ‘06 Syrah |
11 (1%) |
|
Fielding Hills ‘08 Cab Franc |
11 (1%) |
|
Doubleback ‘08 Cabernet |
10 (1%) |
|
Hestia ‘10 Chenin Blanc |
10 (1%) |
|
Maison Bleue ‘09 Liberté |
10 (1%) |
|
Maison Bleue ‘10 Petite Joie |
10 (1%) |
|
Reynvaan ‘09 The Unnamed |
10 (1%) |
|
FIGGINS ‘08 Red Wine |
9 (1%) |
|
Kontos ‘08 Syrah |
9 (1%) |
|
Maison Bleue ‘09 Graviere |
9 (1%) |
|
Th Wolfe ‘08 The Teacher |
9 (1%) |
|
Cadence ‘07 Bel Canto |
8 (1%) |
|
Corliss ‘06 Red Wine |
8 (1%) |
|
Rasa ‘08 QED |
8 (1%) |
|
William Church ‘08 Malbec |
8 (1%) |
|
Dumas ‘09 Cow Catcher |
7 (1%) |
|
Obelisco ‘08 Red Wine |
7 (1%) |
|
Pomum ‘08 Shya Red |
7 (1%) |
|
aMaurice ‘09 “Sparrow” |
6 (0%) |
|
Pomum ‘08 Syrah |
6 (0%) |
|
Reininger ‘08 Syrah |
6 (0%) |
|
Force Majeure ‘06 Ptera |
5 (0%) |
|
Corliss ‘06 Cabernet |
4 (0%) |
|
Dumas Station ‘07 Cab |
4 (0%) |
|
Dumas ‘07 Reserve Cab |
4 (0%) |
|
Elsom ‘08 Malbec |
4 (0%) |
|
K Vintners ‘10 Viognier |
4 (0%) |
|
aMaurice ‘08 “Amparo” |
3 (0%) |
|
Walla Faces ‘07 Frank Syrah |
3 (0%) |
Preliminary Round Results 2012 Wine to Watch
|
Reynvaan ‘10 Stonessence |
46 (19%) |
|
A Bench ‘09 Red Willow Cab |
34 (14%) |
|
Buty ’10 Rediviva of Stones |
28 (12%) |
|
Walla Walla Vintners ‘10 Cab Franc WWV |
26 (11%) |
|
Efeste ‘10 Klipsun Merlot |
25 (10%) |
|
O&M ‘09 Tempranillo |
23 (9%) |
|
Rasa ‘09 Occam’s Razor |
22 (9%) |
|
O&M ‘09 Petite Sirah |
21 (9%) |
|
O&M ‘10 Elephant Mtn Viognier |
21 (9%) |
|
Reynvaan ‘10 The Contender |
21 (9%) |
|
Maison Bleue ‘11 Rose |
20 (8%) |
|
Corliss ‘07 Cabernet |
18 (7%) |
|
Rasa ‘09 Perfect Union |
18 (7%) |
|
Boudreaux ‘08 Malbec |
16 (6%) |
|
Hestia ‘09 Tempranillo |
16 (6%) |
|
Kontos ‘09 WWV Syrah |
14 (6%) |
|
Efeste ‘11 Feral Sauv Blanc |
13 (5%) |
|
Tranche ’07 Slice of Pape |
13 (5%) |
|
Avennia ’10 Rhone Blend |
10 (4%) |
|
Tenor Wines ‘09 Cab |
9 (3%) |
|
Zanzibar ‘09 Sandra Red Willow |
8 (3%) |
|
Cooper ’09 Estate Merlot |
7 (3%) |
|
Dumas Station ‘09 Cab Franc |
7 (3%) |
|
JB Neufeld ‘09 DuBrul Cab |
7 (3%) |
|
Dumas Station ‘08 Cabernet |
6 (2%) |
|
Yak Yak Wines ’11 Riesling |
6 (2%) |
damn looks like I should have bought a case of Domenica.
Disappointed to see mansion creek kicked out it is great wine. I hope you are really sure that there were people voting multiple times because it seems that they were clearly leading to the point where a few people could not have really changed the outcome here. That is not fair to the great people at mansion creek. I know u have to watch it though to keep this somewhat credible. I just tried their new Barbara and it is the best I have had. They are fast becoming my favorite small production wine out of WW.
I was very curious as to how that wine had so many votes..
I must say I am very disappointed to see that the Mansion Creek wine was removed from the running this year. It is unfortunate that people may have voted multiple times, but if that safeguard was not built into your system to start with how can you be 100% certain every vote in your survey was unique? I hope you painstakingly compared every IP address (and every IP host) for every other wine in the running, regardless of whether they were a top placer or not. While this winery may not be the biggest of best know yet in Washington State, I can assure you that from the wines I have been fortunate to try, they are producing some of the most exciting things any boutique producer is coming out with in the state. Have you done anything with this final round of voting to assure that wines are not being voted for multiple times? This very well could be out of the hands of the nominees that you are unfairly penalizing.
don't worry people. it is a make believe poll and no one in the real world cares what happens. sean has no formal training/education in wine. doesn't he try really hard and do a good job though
Anonymi, I was disappointed to have to take Mansion Creek out of the running as well, and yes I did do my research on this before doing so – spending about five hours with the data over the weekend. Understand that this was not intended in any way to reflect negatively on the winery, rather on the limited number of individuals who voted a very large number of times, at one point increasing the tally minute by minute.
As I noted above, I am tracking the voting for the finalists very, very carefully, and you would be quite surprised at the amount of information available with today's technology.
Anonymous 12:54pm, I generally don't concern myself much with anonymous commenters who can't take the time to capitalize or punctuate, assuming that they are putting an equal amount of effort and thought into what they are writing. However, I will say this. If you're going to write such a snarky, anonymous message, I would advise not doing it via a mail router that tracks back to a winery. And yes, btw, I do have some formal training/education in wine. Thanks for asking though!
Because it seems that maybe a bad apple spoiled the voting for Mansion Creek, I would suggest making it up to them at some point by doing a profile of their winery or a tasting of their popular wine. While this poll is just that — a poll — I find it enlightening each year, and I end up looking up every winery that I'm unfamiliar with. I wouldn't necessarily make any buying decisions based on the results, but I don't think that's the intention. (Now why I don't make any buying decisions based on WS's top 100 list is a different discussion… :-)
Roger, I like that idea and will do so! Thanks for the suggestion.