RALEIGH ó Old Stone Winery’s Sweet Muscadine took the N.C. Muscadine Cup for best Muscadine wine during the 9th Annual N.C. State Fair Wine Competition, held Oct. 8-9.
The Rowan County wine was among 307 wines submitted by 41 N.C. wineries for the competition.
Childress Vineyards took home the N.C. Winegrowers Cup and Best of Show honors with its 2006 Cabernet Franc and led the medal count with 33 awards.
Three panels of professional judges evaluated wines and awarded 24 double gold, 29 gold, 97 silver and 94 bronze medals. Double gold medals are awarded for unanimous decisions from the judges.
Competitions were open only to N.C. winemakers, and commercial entries had to be submitted by bonded N.C. wineries.
The state is home to 76 commercial wineries and several more are expected to open within the next year.
In addition to the commercial wine competition, 86 amateur wines were also judged. These home-grown wines were entered by N.C. hobbyist winemakers. Ribbons were presented to first-, second- and third-place winners for each class of wine. Best of Show in the amateur competition was awarded to Keith Lawrence of Winston-Salem.