TASTING RESULTS | Cascadia
Idaho bubblehouse
PHOTOS BY RICHARD DUVAL/JYL BLACKWELL
By Eric Degerman
R
ICHLAND, Wash. — When the 3100 Cellars 2017 Whitewater methode Champenoise won the Cascadia International Wine Competition sweepstakes by a landslide vote, it meant the judging panel had selected a wine from Idaho as best of show for the second straight year. And for the first time in the event’s 10-year history, a bottle of bubbles burst through as the top wine of the tasting. “Oh my gosh!” exclaimed 3100 Cellars
30 | greatnorthwestwine.com
3100 Cellars tops 10th annual Cascadia International Wine Competition
winemaker/co-owner Hailey Minder. “Holy moly! It’s amazing to know that professionals in the industry appreciate your product — and that a little winery in Idaho is making really good sparkling wine.” Among the judges at the Cascadia International was Colorado native Tim Donahue, the longtime director of winemaking for Walla Walla Community College’s Institute for Enology and Viticulture who resigned last year to launch Horse Thief Wine Consulting in the Walla Walla Valley. He’s been an advocate for sparkling wine production in the Pacific Northwest for more than a decade. “I think it’s great that there’s a sparkling wine house in Idaho, but then I think there should be sparkling wine houses everywhere,” Donahue said with a laugh. “For years, everyone looked at me like I had a hole in my head. There’s so much work involved — especially if you are in a small setting where you don’t have all of the machinery — so to see someone do it so well is pretty cool.” Hailey and her husband, Marshall, do all of the work by hand at 3100 Cellars, a 1,500-case project in the Snake River Valley that produces only sparkling wine in the style of Champagne. They learned about their best-of-show award while making the 9-hour drive back home from a Seattle fundraiser tied to celebrity chef José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen work in Ukraine.
edging past another Mount Hood entry — the 2019 Estate Pinot Noir that was voted as the judging’s top Pinot Noir. Mt. Hood’s 2018 Grenache received a double gold. The winery’s two other red wines to earn gold were the 2019 Syrah and the 2017 Summit Red — a Syrah-based blend grown the year after Mt. Hood received Oregon Winery of the Year from now-defunct Wine Press Northwest magazine. Cushman’s 2021 White Pinot Noir,
Oregon winemaker Cushman wins 9 golds for Mt. Hood Perhaps the most impressive storyline running throughout the 2022 Cascadia International was the string of gold medals crafted for Mt. Hood Winery by longtime Oregon winemaker Rich Cushman. The Columbia Gorge producer in Hood River, Ore., amassed nine gold medals for the Bickford family, a performance that included the 2018 Barbera that won Best Red Wine,
PHOTOS BY RICHARD DUVAL/JYL BLACKWELL
