2020 Sangiovese takes Platinum!

Sip Magazine has hosted their 12th annual Best of Northwest wine competition. They place an open call for submissions put out to wineries of all sizes across the Pacific Northwest with an impressive 665 wines sent in this year. These submissions underwent blind tastings, meticulously evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges comprised of sommeliers, wine buyers, journalists and industry professionals. The top four medalists (platinum, double gold, gold, and silver) and Judges’ picks were selected for each respective wine category.Bottle of Sangiovese wine with glasses behind

We’re proud to announce that Williamson Vineyards 2020 Sangiovese received the highest award for a Sangiovese this year. Full article can be found here: Sip Magazine BEST OF THE NORTHWEST WINE AWARDS

Winner of the Open That Bottle Contest

Begun in 1998, Open That Bottle Night is a call to open that special bottle with friends and share the experience, instead of letting it continue to sit in the cellar. We’ve decided to get into the spirit by holding a drawing from participants who submitted pictures of their Williamson wines and a short description as to why they decided to Open That Bottle. We received some lovely entries and we put the names into a wine spittoon and drew out the winner,
…Lisa Shaffer!

Lisa wins the wine-rrific gift basket, valued at $140.

Congratulation Lisa! Thank you for this fabulous picture, you can pick up your gift basket prize at the tasting room at your convenience.
Lisa had this to say about her favorite bottle: “We love this bottle of Last Drop and opened it because it is unique and we know they won’t be able to ever make it again the same. Terry and I really enjoyed it and it pairs well with lasagna!  It rates best in a Williamson glass.”

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We were blown away by everyone who entered the contest. Many of the entries truly touched our hearts. We would like to gift a bottle of our delicious 2020 Dry Rosé to our honorable mentions seen below. Cheers!


Richard & Trudy Jackson
Stacy Irwin

Renee & Steve VanAtter
Margie & David Wilkins


Albariño Is At It Again!


Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition 2022

Great Northwest Wine conducts a one-of-a-kind wine competition each year. The 2022 judging was staged the first week of October with influential wine professionals recruited as judges, and held at the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Ore. This contest contains dozens of wineries from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. With hundreds of wines submitted to this competition, we are proud to say that our 2021 Albariño brought home a gold medal. If you haven’t had an opportunity to taste this award winning wine, please check  out the information on our website here, or come out to the tasting room and purchase one to take home. 
Cheers!


one bottle red wine and one bottle white wine next to wine barrel

Idaho Wine Competition 2022

We are thrilled to have two of our favorite wines as gold medal winners at this year’s Idaho Wine Competition. If you haven’t had the opportunity to taste our Sangiovese and Albariño, what are you waiting for?

one bottle white wine and one bottle red wine against a tree backdrop

2021 Albariño won Double Gold and our 2019 Sangiovese won a Gold. Check out more detail at our webstore here: Williamson Vineyards wine shop

If you’re interested in more  information about this year’s Idaho Wine Competition, head over to their website here: Idaho Wine Competition

Available for purchase in our tasting room or via our webstore. Psst! Wine club members – remember to sign into your account to receive your special discount.

Savor Northwest Wine Competition

The 2022 Savor Northwest Wine Awards competition, conducted this year in early March in Cannon Beach, Oregon had approximately 700 entries. We are so pleased to report that both the 2019 Cabernet and 2019 Sangiovese received Silver medals. Both these delicious wines are available in the tasting room or via our webstore here.

Links to the full story are here: Savor NorthWest Wine Competition 2022

Idaho Wine Competition 2021

Bringing in the Gold

Both the 2020 Albariño and 2019 Malbec received Gold Medals at the Idaho Wine Competition on August 17, 2021. It’s always great to be included in the best that Idaho wines have to offer. The Albariño and Malbec are available for purchase in the tasting room. The 2020 Viognier is available to our wine club members and we expect to release the 2019 Petite Sirah in October.

2020 Viognier received a Silver Medal
2019 Petite Sirah received a Bronze Medal

Head over to our webstore for more information and to make purchases!

Doce Does Us Proud!

A tasting by Wine Press Northwest of fortified wines from Washington, Oregon and Idaho was held in Summer of 2020. There were 48 Northwest producers that participated in their first large-scale judging of fortifieds since 2015, and they combined for 67 entries. Our delicious Doce rated well with their “outstanding” designation. We’ve attached their tasting notes and linked here to their full article.

Syrah remains a go-to grape for some of the Northwest’s top producers of fortified wines, and the multi-personality red Rhône grape thrives in Idaho, particularly in the hands of Greg Koenig, who crafted the Williamson family’s wines for nearly two decades. The nose of toffee, Saigon cinnamon, dried cherry and plum moves into darker flavors of cola and pomegranate syrup. There’s a pleasing bit of burn from the alcohol that’s smoothed out by the finish of Choward’s Violet candy and milk chocolate. The family of foodies at Williamson enjoy this with Black Forest Cake, blue cheese or walnuts.

Williamson Vineyards Syrah – Making It’s Mark

Anyone who knows us knows how much we love our Syrah. It was one of the first of three grape varieties planted in the Williamson vineyard back in 1999. We sent our currently available Syrahs to a Syrah competition and at the beginning of 2020 where they received top awards. Wine Press Northwest recently completed their 2020 Platinum Invitational. Wines had to receive gold or higher awards during the 2020 year to be invited. With hundreds of northwest wines submitted, our 2018 Syrah received a Double Gold, and our 2016 Reserve Syrah was awarded a Gold. This wine is still available in our tasting room and from our webstore. Cheers!

Syrah Making A Splash

The wine gurus at Wine Press Northwest highlighted our delicious 2016 Reserve Syrah as their Wine of the Week. This wine was also Rated “Unanimously Outstanding!” by Wine Press Northwest. We hope you’ve had a chance to purchase this amazing example of Williamson grown Snake River Valley Syrah. This link will take you to the Wine Press Northwest article.


SavorNW Wine Competition

Savor NW Wine Competition is an annual wine competition held annually in February which showcases the best of Northwest wines. It is one of the largest wine awards programs open to all commercial wineries in the Pacific Northwest. We’re so proud to be in the Snake River Valley AVA with all the wonderful wineries in it. Go Idaho!

2014 Reserve Petite Sirah – Gold
2017 Dry Riesling – Gold
2016 Malbec – Silver
2016 Sangiovese – Silver

To see the list of winners and competitors, follow this link.