2025 Award Winners and "Winemaker of the Year" Announced (April 2025) - The 17th Annual Winemaker Challenge is in the books, with talented judges finding all kinds of great wine across a wide range of varieties, prices and regions. The top scoring 2023 Eberle Winery Sangiovese from Paso Robles California took Domestic Wine of the Year honors with a 98 point score, edging its winery stablemate 2023 "Côtes-du-Rôbles" by a single vote in a taste-off. Import Wine of the Year went to the 2024 Taylors Heritage Riesling from Clare Valley, adding to the growing legend of great Australian Riesling.  Our fourth annual Winemaker of the Year award goes to Chris Eberle of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles in California's northern San Luis Obispo County. While Chris isn't related to winery owner and area pioneer Gary Eberle, it's clear that Gary made a wise choice in selecting Chris to take over the day-to-day winemaking duties. Ever the humble guy, Chris said of his top scoring wines that "if you didn't make good wines in 2023 you should probably open a gas station." Chris also took Best of Class honors for his 2024 Côtes-du-Rôbles Rosé as well as leading Eberle to the Winery of the Year prize with a great showing of wines from three different vintages. To have your wines evidence top quality across the board in a blind judging by fellow winemakers is a true honor. We're proud to recognize Chris' talents with this award, which includes an invitation to serve as Chief Judge at the 2026 Winemaker Challenge.
Thank you for visiting us here at WinemakerChallenge.com. I hope you'll take a few moments to peruse our results page, where you can view all of our medal winners, Director’s Awards, and reviews of our top wines - the Platinum Award winners. There are award-winning wines of all types and price ranges represented. You’ll no doubt find some wines you have yet to discover as well as old favorites. Thanks to all of our participating wineries – we look forward to celebrating your achievements again in April 2026 at the 18th annual Winemaker Challenge. Cheers! Rich Cook, Competition Director |
