Palmetto Wine Competition Promotes Award Winning South Carolina Wineries.

Dennis and Jenni Turner, husband and wife blogging duo of WineryEscapades.Com, organized the second annual Palmetto Wine Competition hosted at The Belmont Inn in historic Abbeville, South Carolina on May 7th. The competition focuses solely on the promotion of commercially licensed South Carolina Wineries.

A panel of eight highly qualified judges from many different sectors of the wine industry judged the wine entries by blind tasting. Head judges were David Murphy, a member of the French Broad Vignerons, and Annmarie Humm, proprietor of the Vines to Wines Society. David has judged more than fifteen wine competitions, while Annemarie brings a lifetime of experience in the wine industry. Veteran judges included Bob and Jennifer Aycock of the blog WineCarolinas.Com. New judges for 2019 were Jessica Adams and Jessica Byrd of The Wine Mouths. Jessica Byrd is a recent graduate of the Viticulture and Enology program at Surry Community College. Jeff House, proprietor of Bond Street Wines, and regional wine expert Nancy Traver.

Twenty-two bronze medals were awarded along with thirteen silver medals. The six highest scoring wines produced entirely from one hundred percent South Carolina grown fruit were awarded as Palmetto Signature Wines. Palmetto Signature Wines included entries from Wellborn Winery, Cityscape Winery, Lazy Bear Winery, Enoree River Vineyard, and Island Winery.

Eight gold medals and four double gold medals were presented at the evening awards dinner. Gold Medal winners included entries from Cityscape Winery, Old Rock Quarry Winery, and Enoree River Winery. Double Gold winners included entries from Cityscape Winery, Enoree River Winery, and Wandering Bard Meadery.
Best Estate Wine was awarded to Cityscape Winery of Pelzer for their Dry White Muscadine. The Signature Best in Show was awarded to Rockin’ Robin Red from Enoree River Winery in Newberry. Rockin’ Robin Red is a semi-sweet raspberry infused white blend.

The Palmetto Wine Competition is sponsored by The VinoWine App, WineryEscapades.Com, Asheville Hwy. Rental, Spartanburg, and The Belmont Inn in Abbeville. Awards presentations will soon be scheduled at each award winning winery. A full list of the award winning wines can viewed at WineryEscapades.Com.