Wine

BENTLEY CELLARS

What better way to celebrate retirement than to develop a wine making hobby. Rex makes wine in the garage and is known to have taken over the kitchen on more than one occasion. Barbara is the official taster (quality control) and label maker. We make wine of professional quality but cannot sell it because we don't have a license. Rex has been asked to be the winemaker at several commercial wineries in the United States, New Zealand and Australia but he's not interested. He says it would take the fun out of retirement. Rex has a white wine partner, George Rammell, and when they enter competitions they are called The Old Duffers.
2007 WINE COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS:

The 2007 competitions are complete. We don't plan on entering any more wine competitions this year.

WINES ARE JUDGED BY TWO SYSTEMS:

The DANISH Judging System uses a score to determine the awards - there is no forced ranking. A Double Gold means that all the judges in the panel scored the wine as gold. WE LIKE THIS SYSTEM BECAUSE IT LETS THE HOME WINEMAKER KNOW THE QULAITY OF HIS OR HER WINE -- ALL THOSE RANKED A GOLD GET THAT AWARD!

The AMERICAN Judging System awards only first, second and third place in each category (as in the Contra Costa Wine Group)and may not even award that if they feel there is no worthy wine (like Napa). WE DO NOT LIKE THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM BECAUSE THE FORCES RANKING MAY NOT SHOW A GOLD OR OTHER AWARD SINCE THE HIGHEST THREE ARE THE ONLY ONES TO GET AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Golden Bears are awarded for the Best of Show wines at the
CaliforniaState Fair. In 2006 we won two of the three bears - one for the Best of Show White (2004 YakimaValley Viognier) and one for the Best of Show Other (2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine).
FLASH! UPDATE! The 2007 California State Fair Competition was held in the middle of July. Once more we won two of the three golden bear - one for the Best of Show Other for our 2005 Peach and one for Best of Show White for the 2006 Viognier that we made with our white wine partners Pam and George Rammell.

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2007 Contra Costa Wine Group (13 entries – American):
Approximately 100 wines in competition

Best of Show Dessert/Gold........2006 Purple Raspberry
Gold..............................................2004 Petite Verdot
Gold..............................................2006 LH Malvasia Bianca
Gold..............................................2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine
Gold (with George)......................2006 Sauvignon Blanc
Gold (with George)......................2006 Chardonnay
Silver.............................................2004 Meritage
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2007 International (15 entries - Danish):
Hosted by the Winemaker Magazine
3.422 wines in competition

WINEMAKERS OF THE YEAR for the 2nd year in a row
(highest point count of 5 gold medals)

Gold.........................2006 Late Harvest Malvasia Bianca
Gold.........................2006 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer
Gold.........................2006 Late Harvest Muscat Canelli Lot A
Gold.........................2006 Golden Raspberry
Gold.........................2006 Gewurztraminer 1% RS
Gold.........................2005 Peach Lot A
Gold.........................2005 Peach Lot B
Gold.........................2006 Elephant Heart Plum
Silver...4 Bronze...1
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2007 California State Fair (26 entries - Danish):
580 wines in competition

Best of Show Other/Double Gold.......2005 Peach
Best of Show White/Double Gold......2006 Viognier (w/George)
Best of Class Other Red/DBL Gold....2004 Petite Verdot
DBL Gold.............................2005 Semillon (w/George)
DBL Gold.............................2006 LH Malvasia Bianca
DBL Gold.............................2005 LH Muscat Canelli
DBL Gold.............................2006 Elephant Hrt Plum Brandy
Gold.....................................2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Gold.....................................2006 LH Gewurztraminer
Gold.....................................2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine
Gold.....................................2006 Malvasia Bianca Ice Wine
Gold.....................................2006 Gewurztraminer (w/George)
Gold.....................................2006 White Meritage (w/George)
Gold.....................................2006 Chardonnay (w/George)
Silver...6 Bronze...5
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2007 Napa Home Winemakers Classic (2 entries - American):
approximately 80 wines in competition

Silver..............2006 LH Gewurztraminer (gold elsewhere)
Bronze............2004 Petite Verdot (gold elsewhere)
This shows how subjective the judges are when a wine can win top prizes at some competitions and not win them at others. The neat thing about this year is that another Contra Costa Wine Group winemaker (Ingraham and Hussey) won the Best of Show. Yeah for CCWG!

2007 AlamedaCounty Fair (9 entries - Danish):
Approximately 100 wines in competition

Best of Show Red/Silver.............2004 Petite Verdot
Best of Show White/Silver..........2006 Sauvignon Blanc (with George)
Best of Show Dessert/Silver......2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine
Silver......3 Bronze...3
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2007 Marin County Fair (24 entries - Danish):
Approximately 180 wines in competition

Best of Show Dessert/Gold......2005 LH Muscat Canelli Lot A
Best of Show Fruit/Gold:..........2006 Purple Raspberry
Gold..................2004 Merlot
Gold.................2004 Amarone
Gold.................2005 LH Botryised Chardonnay
Gold.................2005 Ice Wine: Muscat Canelli
Gold.................2006 Malvasia Bianca Ice Wine
Gold.................2005 Peach
Gold.................2006 Elephant Heart Plum Brandy
Gold (w/George).......2006 Gewurztraminer
Gold (w/George).......2006 Chardonnay
Silver...4 Bronze...5 HM...1
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2007OrangeCounty Fair (23 entries - Danish):
734 wines in competition

Best of Show Dessert/Db Gold...2006 Elephant Heart Plum
Best of Show White/Db Gold...2006 Sauvignon Blanc (w/George)
Double Gold..........2006 Chardonnay (w/George)
Double Gold..........2005 Peach Lot A
Double Gold..........2006 Malvasia Bianca Ice Wine
Double Gold..........2005 Late Harvest Muscat Canelli
Double Gold..........2006 Elephant Heart Plum Brandy
Gold......................2004 Merlot
Gold......................2004 Petite Verdot
Gold......................2004 Cabernet Rose’
Gold......................2005 LH Golden Muscat
Gold......................2002 Olallieberry
Silver...9 Bronze...1
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A NOTE OF APPRECIATION
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who give of their time and talents to make these competitions possible. It is a lot of hard work from volunteers to make it happen.

2007 Cowie International Amateur Wine Competition
(12 entries – Danish)
Approximately 180 wines in competition

Best of Show and Best of Class
White Semi-Sweet...........................2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine
Best of Class White Dry.................2006 Chardonnay (with George)
Gold................................................2006 Gewürztraminer 1% RS
Gold................................................2006 Peach Chardonnay
Gold................................................2006 LH Muscat Canelli
Gold................................................2005 Malvasia Bianca % RS
Gold (with George)........................2006 Viognier
Silver...2 Bronze...3

WINE IN ARKANSAS? PARIS, ARKANSAS? http://www.cowiewinecellars.com/
Robert G. Cowie, the founder of Cowie Wine Cellars, began making wines in 1955 as a teenager fascinated by the miracle of fermentation. His dream to own a winery materialized in small steps over the years. The winery became bonded on August 17, 1967.

THE AWARD FOR BEST OF SHOW
AT THE COWIE INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION
IS A ONE OUNCE GOLD COIN.
We won it with the 2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine.

THE AWARD FOR BEST OF CLASS
AT THE COWIE INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION
IS A ONE OUNCE SILVER COIN. We won two for the
2006 Chardonnay and the 2005 Muscat Canelli.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we took three of the four Best of Show awards at the 2007 Alameda County Fair. The judges are tough. All three won with silver awards. There was only one gold awarded for about 100 wines. Is that stingy or what?

In April 2007 we did a three week jaunt in Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We visited Barbara's sister Margaret for four days in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It's right over the border from Virginia's Loudon Valley wine region. We tasted excellent wine at Breaux Vineyards. They sell grapes to home wimemakers and it was very tempting to think about moving near Margaret, that is, until we thought about the weather :-) http://www.breauxvineyards.com/

This year we once again donated wine baskets for charity fundraisers for STAND! Against Domestic Violence http://www.standagainstdv.org/, CVS - Community Violence Solutions http://www.volunteersolutions.org/vccc/org/1108529.html, Ellen's Guild of the Family Stress Center http://www.familystresscenter.org/EllensGuild.htm, and the Dry Creek - Lakota Volunteer Fire Department http://www.drycreek.org/.