Spirits & Wine Award Winners, Top Scoring Products, Beverage Industry Trends and Best Wine and Spirits Lists

The Wagner family has been growing grapes on the glacial soils of Seneca Lake in New York for five generations. John Wagner, co-owner and general manager, is proud of his legacy: “This heritage has provided us with an intimate connection to the land. Since 1978, we have carried this same passion into our estate bottled wines.” As long standing producers of quality wine from this area, they have had decades to figure out which grapes work best with the land and their house style.  

Sake is the rice based wine from Japan, made from varying levels of polished rice and in a range of styles. While there are multiple types of sake, the three that we have represented are Junmai, made from rice polished to at least 70%; Junmai Gingo, made from rice polished to at least 60%; and Junmai Daigingo, made from rice polished to at least 50%. Different fermenting and brewing methods may also be used for the different levels to bring out certain flavors. Our top 3 scoring sakes all won Chairman's Trophies in their subcategory, to form a strong trio of the best sakes across the major categories available today.

Merlot is an ubiquitous grape, planted and vinified all over the world into wines of varying quality. The fact that it is so pervasive has actually worked against it, earning it a reputation as an ordinary wine grape. True wine enthusiasts know that merlot is responsible for some of the world’s most lauded wines, and more importantly, that is is capable of making extraordinarily stunning and delicious wines.

With a score of 95 Points and an Ultimate Recommendation, this wine was impressive on many levels. As a benchmark example of what this part of the world can produce, it is clear that Turkey is a fine wine producing region.