It’s not bragging if you can back it up. ~ Muhammad Ali
Well, isn’t that special. ~ Church Lady
A Cowboy Cuvée and a Glamorous Gal
I hadn’t really planned on posting this weekend but then two wonderful moments of affirmation happened that once again fanned my occasionally smoldering oenological fire into flames of gratitude and inspiration. So, please bear with my shameless display of self-inflicted back patting—it’ll be short, but oh so sweet…
Only in Texas can you win a Platinum Medal for the quality of your wine. Isn’t a Gold Medal or a Double-Gold Medal—like in other wine competitions—enough to acknowledge a wine well made? Nah, not big enough for the Texas International Wine Competition, which announced its 2025 winners this past week. Tiny Vineyards Wine Company took home a disc of that rarest of elements for our 2025 Vino Tinto Rústico, and “just” a basic gold metal medal for our 2024 Vermentino.
Conversely our Vermentino won Best of Class, a Gold Medal, and a 95-point score in the Los Angeles International Wine Competition—also announced this past week—while our Vino Tinto Rústico secured a Silver Medal.
That a lot of precious metal for the beginning of the awards season. Sheesh!
But I don’t think these awards were anomalies. Both competitions were blind (meaning the judges knew nothing about the wines they were about to score, and they never saw the bottles / labels). And both wines scored well in both competitions. While the Vermentino has only been in two competitions so far (garnering gold in both!), the Vino Tinto Rústico has stood on the Platinum Podium, won a Best of Class, a Double-Gold Medal, and three other Silver Medals in the five competitions it’s been in to date.
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
I know, I know. I’m blowing my horn pretty loud here. But these two wines are significant for so many reasons, not the least of which they both emerged from challenging conditions and compromised fruit to evolve into two of the most popular wines I’ve ever made. It’s a glorious attestation of what can sometimes go right when everything seems to be going wrong, if only you have faith in nature, trust the science and stay open to a few miracles.
Isn’t that the purest definition of winemaking?
