TEMECULA, CA – June 25, 2013 — For the past 160 years, the prestigious California State Fair Wine Competition has recognized the best wines of the State and the dedication to viticulture and enology. This year, 72 judges, on 18 panels, judged South Coast Winery Resort & Spa against 708 other participating wineries, and they named South Coast Winery the California State Winery of the Year Golden Bear winner for 2013/14.

This is the third time in the past five years that this exemplary distinction has been awarded to the same winery, no less to a winery in the southern most part of the state. It was not too long ago when South Coast Winery brought home the very first California State Winery of the Year title in 2008/09 for the wines they had grown and produced in the South Coast region. Folks at the time likened it to the Great Judgment of Paris, “Surely, there was faulty judging,” echoed the crowds, as there had not been a winning winery from the south coast region of the state coming out of that competition since its beginnings. Yet, those same crowds were hushed when South Coast Winery came back and claimed the second win for the title the following year in 2009/10. 

Today, South Coast Winery Resort & Spa owner/vintner Jim Carter, along with his wife Dawn Carter and members of the winery’s team, accepted its third California State Winery of the Year title on the capitol steps in Sacramento. A sense of pride and accomplishment was found at the winery resort in Temecula, after this morning’s official announcement, as employees and guests alike acknowledged the award. According to Alice Sullivan, President/CEO Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, “I congratulate South Coast Winery on this fine accomplishment. It’s a true testament to the hard work and dedication which Jim and his winery team have devoted the past ten years: uncompromising sustainable growing practices while balancing quality, environmental health and promoting social equity among the entire Southern California Temecula Valley Wine Country community.”