Press Release
May 25, 2009

Comox Valley’s beaufort Winery Awarded 9 Medals in National and International Wine Competitions

Susan & Jeff Vandermolen, co-owners, operators and winemakers of the beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery are pleased to announce that they’ve recently been awarded nine medals for their most recent wine releases, at prestigious National and International wine competitions. This adds to the three medals awarded for their wines in 2008.

Of the medals awarded there were two GOLD – both for wines made from 100% Vancouver Island fruit. beaufort ’08 PANACEA (a white wine blend) was awarded GOLD at the All Canadian Wine Championships (Ontario) and SILVER at the NorthWest Wine Summit (Oregon). beaufort ’08 CASSIS (100% Comox Valley black currant fortified dessert wine) was awarded GOLD at the NorthWest Wine Summit. 

An additional 3 SILVER and 3 BRONZE medals were awarded to beaufort wines at the Northwest Wine Summit. To date the majority of medals awarded to beaufort Winery have been for wines made from Vancouver Island grapes.

Susan Vandermolen, co-owner and Winemaker says, “Winemaking is a passion of ours, so we continue to learn, push-the-envelope, and add to our 26+ years of winemaking skills and expertise.  Our most important goal is to create high quality, small-lot, handcrafted wines, at a reasonable price.”

Jeff Vandermolen, co-owner and Vineyard Manager states, “We’ve had a lot of positive reinforcement, through comments from our customers and through our wine sales, of our winemaking skills. This year (2009) will be particularly exciting as we harvest our first estate-grown grapes. We are looking forward to presenting our first estate-grown white wines in 2010, followed by our reds in 2011.”

Beaufort winery opened its doors to the public for the 2009 season on May 22nd, and their wines are already over 60% sold out.
 
“We’d like to say a special thank-you to all of our customers, including many of our excellent local restaurants, who purchase our wines, along with supporting other local producers.”

For more information about beaufort wines, visiting the Winery, or to order wines online, please visit their website at www.beaufortwines.ca
 
MEDALS AWARDED TO beaufort WINES in 2009:

• 2008 beaufort “PANACEA”:
• GOLD MEDAL, 2009 All Canadian Wine Championships.
• SILVER MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2008 beaufort “CASSIS”: GOLD MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2008 beaufort “BLANC de NOIR”: SILVER MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2007 beaufort “BLACK – Déjà Vu”: SILVER MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2008 beaufort “G’WURTZ”: SILVER MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2008 beaufort “ORTEGA”: BRONZE MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2007 beaufort “ PREMIERE (Merlot)”: BRONZE MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2008 beaufort “GRIS”: BRONZE MEDAL, 2009 Northwest Wine Summit.

MEDALS AWARDED TO beaufort WINES in 2008:

• 2007 beaufort “GRIS”: SILVER MEDAL, 2008 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2007 beaufort “ORTEGA”: BRONZE MEDAL, 2008 Northwest Wine Summit.
• 2007 beaufort “BLACK” (1st release): BRONZE MEDAL, 2008 Northwest Wine Summit.

NORTHWEST WINE SUMMIT
The NorthWest Wine Summit, held annually at Mt. Hood, Oregon, is open to all types of wines and spirits made or produced in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Alberta and British Columbia.  Medals are awarded on the following basis:
•    Gold: for role-model examples
•    Silver: for overall excellence
•    Bronze: for substantially above general market quality

ALL CANADIAN WINE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The All Canadian Wine Championships, established in 1981 and held annually in Windsor, Ontario, is the oldest and largest competition created specifically for Canadian wines. Each spring, all commercial wineries across Canada are invited to submit their very best wines for judging. Medals are awarded on the following basis:
•    Gold awards of merit will be awarded to those wines scoring in the top 10 percentile.
•    Silver awards of merit will be issued to those wines scoring in the second 10 percentile.
•    Bronze awards of merit will be issued to those wines scoring in the third 10 percentile.