The first group of Peakers came in the afternoon and had a great time listening to acoustical rock and dining al fresco.

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Session 2 was at night and we were rockin' out with you guys so sorry no pictures - probably a good thing!

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987 PEAKers RSVPed for our 2008 Release Parties!

We have recieved many emails from the attendees - telling us what a great time they had.  We agree - they were a blast!  Our release parties are a great way to taste through the wines and then sit down on the terraces with other PEAKers and enjoy lunch. The beauty of the winery in the early spring makes it almost as special as this year's wines. 

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What a beautiful weekend to enjoy barrel tasting and great food!  Check out the pictures of the PEAKers enjoying a sunny day.  We tasted 8 different wines - great food - lots of Peakers just hanging out and enjoying the sun!  Can't wait for next year -

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WOW!!!  Look what our 2005 PILOT PEAK SYRAH won at the Orange County competition - BEST OF SHOW - RED VARIETAL FOR 2007!

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Co-Owner Len Stevens, Co-Owner  & Winemaker Lynn Wilson , Co-Owner Jacque Wilson, Orange County Representative Larry Graham, & Co-Owner Nancy Stevens proudly display the awards. 

The 2005 Pilot Peak Syrah also won 1 of only 27 "Four Star" Gold medals awarded when the wine achieves unanimous Gold Medal ratings from each judge based on non-consensus judging.  A truly rare and special award as well.

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2008 California State Fair

• GOLD Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2006 Cabernet Franc
• Pilot Peak 2005 Petit Sirah
• Pilot Peak 2006 Syrah
• Silver Medal Winners
• Peak A Boo 2006 PrimoZin
• Pilot Peak 2007 Viognier

2008 Orange County Fair

• 4-STAR GOLD - 2006 Peak A Boo LiVedo Lot 3    (1 of 22 awarded 3,287 wines judged)
• GOLD Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2005 Petite Sirah
• Pilot Peak 2006 Syrah    ALSO WON CHAIRMAN'S AWARD
• Silver Medal Winners
• Peak A Boo 2006 PrimoZin
• Bronze Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2006 Cabernet Franc
• Pilot Peak 2006 Paramour

2008 The American Wine Awards - Best-of-Appellation Competition

For more information on this competition and tasting comments click here

• GOLD Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2006 Viognier
• Pilot Peak 2006 Cabernet Franc
• Pilot Peak 2005 Petite Sirah
• Pilot Peak 2006 Paramour
• Silver Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2006 Syrah

2008 El Dorado Fair

• GOLD Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2007 Viognier
• Pilot Peak 2006 Cabernet Franc
• Silver Medal Winners
• Peak A Boo 2006 LiVedo Lot 3
• Pilot Peak 2006 Syrah
• Pilot Peak 2006 Paramour
• Pilot Peak 2005 Petite Sirah

2008 Amador County Fair

• GOLD Medal Winner
• Pilot Peak 2007 Viognier
• Silver Medal Winners
• Pilot Peak 2006 Syrah
• Pilot Peak 2006 Paramour
• Pilot Peak 2006 Cabernet Franc
• Bronze Medal Winner
• Pilot Peak 2005 Petite Sirah

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APPELLATION AMERICA's Best-of-Appellation Regional Evaluation Program recently focused its attention on the wines of the Sierra Foothills. Several days of in depth tastings and analysis revealed the great breadth of Foothills wines.

This BEST-OF-APPELLATION PROGRAM was focused on wines from the several appellations strung-out along the California Sierra highlands. Over the course of three days, teams of wine experts blind tasted and discussed the wines of El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, North Yuba, Sierra Foothills, Fair Play, Fiddletown and Shenandoah Valley. The teams were composed of APPELLATION AMERICA senior editors, joined by representative industry professionals who had been nominated by regional associations in Amador and El Dorado County.

The best wines are defined by place, and the character of each appellation is defined by its best wines.

Pilot Peak Winery entered five wines and won 4 Best-of-Appellation Gold Medals and 1 Silver comprising 13% of the total awards given (39 medals were bestowed in total to all wineries).

Best-of-Appellation
          Gold Medal Winner                                         2006 Cabernet Franc (Sierra Foothills)

Evaluation Notes:

The Nevada County elevation seems to favor Cabernet Franc's secret desire to "out spice" its esteemed cousin. Chocolate brownies, cinnamon, sage, cedar and tobacco only begins the aromatics, followed by a rich palate slathering of blueberries, blackberries, all manner of spices, pepper and more cedar, somehow integrated to perfection with acidity to promise some longevity. 146 cases. (14.5% alc)

Perhaps a deeper, earthier, yet fruit forward expression of Cabernet Franc is Pilot Peak’s gold medal winner, the 2006 Pilot Peak Cabernet Franc ($25), a 100% varietal wine. APPELLATION America’s evaluators described the wine as having an “inviting nose with dark fruit and tobacco notes……dark, rich, spicy, and cedar flavors…. good acidity, good balance…..and a long finish.”  Lynn Wilson, winemaker and co-owner of Pilot Peak describes the wine as a medium-bodied, mellow Cabernet Franc, with violets on the nose, a hint of cocoa and lavender, with plum and red berries on the mid palate. Wilson does not co-ferment grapes from the two vineyards. He prefers to ferment separately, with open top fermentation lasting five to eight days, and using hand punch downs. “I don’t like overly extracted, over oaked, over-manipulated wines,” says Wilson. “I like to have the fruit, the acids, the alcohol and the residual sugars balance each other.” He uses a combination of used and new French, American and Hungarian oak barrels.

 Best-of-Appellation
          Gold Medal Winner                  
    2007 Viognier (Sierra Foothills)      

Evaluation Notes:

Viognier-wise, this somewhat atypical; heavily perfumed nose followed by rich round grapefruit and apricot fruit, with that slight burr finish that sometimes confuses one sense of the balanced acidity and successful integration of alcohol. 303 cases (14.1% alc)

Of all the varieties in the Foothills, one of the most under-appreciated yet inviting wines is Viognier. In the recent APPELLATION AMERICA Best-Of-Appellation Program, Viognier showed very well. "What is fascinating", says Clark Smith, an APPELLATION AMERICA columnist, enologist and co-owner of Vinovation, Inc, winemaking consultants, "is that the Foothills offer very different expressions of Viognier."

"There are two kinds of Rhone whites: the feminine peach, lush, more Chardonnay-like body of a Viognier, contrasted with the masculine, angular, structured, acidic and minerality qualities of a high altitude Viognier or a Roussanne or Marsanne.” In the Foothills, the consumer has the luxury of having both. Taking a bold step from the traditional perfumey Viognier is the gold-medal winning Pilot Peak 2007 Viognier (Sierra Foothills AVA). “I absolutely adore the wine. It tastes like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,” says Smith.

 Best-of-Appellation
          Gold Medal Winner                  
 2006 Paramour (Sierra Foothills)

Evaluation Notes:

Strawberries and cherries on the nose, with big round red berry flavors layered over good tannin structure and plenty of acidity to age. Lots of energy, pepper and minerality, drawing from the full spectrum of varieties in the blend. 208 cases. (14.6% alc)

One of the places in which the Foothills can shine is the category of Rhone blends. Consumers who may not be ready for a single exotic varietal can enjoy skillfully blended expressions in Rhone reds and whites. Nevada County producer, Pilot Peak Winery, demonstrates the balance and charm of well blended Rhones with its 2006 Paramour, a masterful marriage of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Petite Sirah.

 Best-of-Appellation
          Gold Medal Winner                   
2005 Petit Sirah (Sierra Foothills)

Evaluation Notes:

Old terroir meets new technology to great effect in this PS; high elevation, solar driven fruit at 26+ brix rendering a broad shouldered, fruit and wood expressive wine with well integrated tannins and no after burn, despite the substantial alcohol. (14.6% alc)

Petite Sirah, a sleeper from the Sierra past, made its claim to a piece of the Rhone vogue. Pilot Peak Winery with its first release of this varietal won gold! Some see Petite Sirah as a spicy competitor to Zinfandel.  Petite Sirah has an interesting and until recently a mysterious history.  Genetic testing has revealed that Petite Sirah originated in the Rhone River Valley of France. The gentleman who created it combined Syrah with a grape called Peloursin and named the result after himself - Durif. The Durif grape didn't really take off in France. In California it has often been used as a blending grape with Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon. Most recently and especially in the Sierra Foothills – Petite Sirah is not only used in blending but is being produced into Gold Medal winning wines.

 Best-of-Appellation
          Silver Medal Winner                   
  2006 Syrah (Sierra Foothills)

Evaluation Notes:

Bright ruby color, with somewhat closed nose, giving way to aromatics of strawberry and licorice, then heady flavors of strawberry, spice, tobacco, dark cherries and leather, complemented by sweet tannins, light oak, and good acid balance. 127 cases (14.6% alc)

Syrah, which could easily become the second signature grape of the Foothills after Zinfandel, showed well in the regional evaluation. [See our feature: Sierra Foothills Rhone Varietals Grow in Quality and Popularity.] Pilot Peak, which won a silver medal for its 2006 Pilot Peak Syrah ($26, 96% Syrah, 4% Grenache), sourced the grapes from three separate blocks at Naggiar Vineyard and found something interesting: the grapes in the 2005 vintage had a lot of black fruit flavor while the 2006 crop exhibited red fruit, from the same exact blocks.

“Foothills terroir shows in Syrah. All of the Syrahs here have a good mouthfeel and tend to have dark red fruit, and usually are not as lean as some of the Australian imports,” says Lynn Wilson. Another terroir influence is the varied soil and exposures growers can get within the same vineyard in the foothills. Varied hang time from one vineyard block to another can also affect the flavor intensity yet, at the same time, create a balanced, award winning wine.

Please refer to the following links for more information:

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/best-of-appellation/Sierra-tasting-report.html

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/best-of-appellation/Sierra-Rhones.html

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/vineyard/Pilot_Peak_Winery.html

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/vineyard-wine/Pilot_Peak_Winery.html

http://wine.appellationamerica.com/vineyard-info/Pilot_Peak_Winery.html

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