Four Paso wineries rank in ‘101 Best Wineries in America’ list

Four Paso Robles wineries named in ‘101 Best Wineries in America’ ranking done by online publication

The Daily Meal, an online publication devoted to ranking food and drink experiences, recently set out to determine the 101 best wineries in the United States. Four Paso Robles wineries made the list. They are: Peachy Canyon Winery, Tablas Creek Vineyars, Saxum Vineyards and Capadrone Winery.winery-600x400

Peachy Canyon, Tablas Creek, and Saxum all placed in the top 50, and Caparone made the list at #69. Jess Novak of The Daily Meal explained “… we invited our panelists to assess the wineries’ quality-to-price ratio. While we did not weight this last factor as heavily as we did the other two aspects, we felt that value should be considered in our ranking strategy. This accounts in part for the absence from our list of some of the most famous Napa Valley trophy wines, priced at many hundreds of dollars — though it is also worth noting that our panel didn’t vote for some of these at all.”

Unlike typical wine competitions, the wineries were not able to submit themselves for consideration. Selections were based on individual bottle quality, narrowed by the consistency of the winery’s complete offering, and narrowed further by the ratio of quality to price. Nominations were made by a distinguished panel chosen for their excellence in the industry, consisting of the following sommeliers, restaurateurs, chefs, and wine writers:

Matthew Allen: Sommelier, Director of Wine and Spirits at Seafood R’evolution restaurant in New Orleans
Colman Andrews: Editorial Director, The Daily Meal
Maxine Borcherding: Chef, Sommelier, French wine scholar, Spanish wane educator, Lead Chef Instructor at Oregon Culinary Institute
Daniel Boulud: Chef and restaurant owner of Daniel
Peter Eastlake: Owner of Vintage Berkeley wine shop, past national wine buyer for Cost Plus World Market and Wine Director for Best Cellars, New York
Daniel Grajewski: Sommelier, Director of Beverage for Mina Restaurant Group
Nate Hoffa: Sommelier, Beverage Director at Trentina restaurant
Daniel Johnnes: Sommelier, wine importer, James Beard Outstanding Wine Professional of the Year 2006, Wine Director for Dinex Group
Rachael Lowe: Sommelier, Beverage Director at Spiaggia
Julian Mayor: Sommelier, Wine Director of Four Seasons hotel and Bourbon Steak, Washington D.C.
Catherine Morel: Head Sommelier at Bourbon Steak Los Angeles
Roger Morris: Wine and Food Writer for Wine Enthusiast, Beverage Media, Sommelier Journal, Drinks Business (UK), Robb Report, Intermezzo and Sommelier News
Pamela C. Pajuelo: WSET Level II, CSW, wine educator, blogger, and writer for The Latin Kitchen
Elissa Rae: General Manager of Trade restaurant, Boston MA
Gabe Sasso: Wine and spirits columnist for The Daily Meal, founder of Drink Dry Creek, and freelance wine writer
Courtney Schiessl: Sommelier, WSET, wine consultant, freelance wine writer for The Daily Meal
Elizabeth Schneider: Sommelier, WSET, wine educator, wine blogger
Raj Vaidya: Head Sommelier at Daniel restaurant
Norman Van Aken: Chef, multiple James Beard Award recipient, cooking school founder, author, radio host, restaurateur
Alice Waters: Chef, author, proprietor of Chez Panisse, Vice President of Slow Food International
Robbie Wilson: Chef and partner of Mattei’s Tavern, past Executive Chef at Matsuhisa in Aspen

The full list of wineries honored by The Daily Meal is available online: http://www.thedailymeal.com/america-s-101-best-wineries-slideshow

Source: Paso Robles Daily News