Wine Enthusiast magazine has announced their “Wine Star” nominees. The annual awards “honor outstanding achievement in the wine world, in that given year and over time.” The winners will be announced in December, with a gala black-tie dinner scheduled for New York City the following month.
The 11 categories comprise: Person of the Year, American Winery, European Winery, New World Winery, Winemaker, Wine Region, Distiller, Importer, Retailer, Restaurateur, and Mixologists.
Notable nominees include American film director Francis Ford Coppola (who transformed the old Château Souverain property into Francis Ford Coppola Winery), Bronco Wine Company (of two-buck Chuck fame), Wente Vineyards (based in Livermore Valley), Bob Cabral (the man largely responsible for Williams Selyems’s success with Pinot), and Zelma Long (Long Vineyards in Napa, and Vilafonté in South Africa).
Russian River Valley (more: Russian River Valley ’08 Pinot Noir wine media tasting round-up) represents California this year in the Wine Region category. Competition for that award includes Prosecco, Provence, Ribera del Duero and Willamette Valley (Oregon).
San Francisco foodies will be pleased, but not surprised, to see Michael Mina (RN74) as a finalist for the Restaurateur award.
The complete list of nominees is posted on the Wine Enthusiast web site.