Jones of Washington wins at Seattle Wine Awards

QUINCY - The year is turning out to be a good one for Quincy winery Jones of Washington.

Several of their wines did well during the recent Seattle Wine Awards - earning double gold, gold and silver medals, said winery sales and marketing director Allan Williams. The winery also fared well at the Great Northwest Wine Competition earlier this year, he said.

"2014 is looking pretty rosy for us, we're pretty excited," he said.

Williams said the winery submitted eight wines to be judged in this year's Seattle Wine Awards. Their 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2013 Riesling and 2013 Viognier received double gold designations.

The winery's 2013 Rose' of Syrah and 2013 Pinot Gris both received gold medals and their 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and 2013 Chardonnay received silver medals.

Williams said they were excited when they found out some of their wines received medals in the competition.

"It's a pretty big judging, there were tons of entrants in several different categories," he said. "And we really hold the Seattle Wine Awards especially high in our thoughts, the judges are really the best qualified to judge wines."

The tasting panel includes sommeliers, professors of Viticulture & Enology, and wine journalists. They evaluate the wine in each category without knowing which winery it comes from, Williams said.

"The variety is all you know," he said.

Williams said the wines they submitted were in the $15 price range and competed against wines that were in the $70 and $80 price range. Winning medals against some of these wines really speaks to the quality of their wines, he said.

Jones of Washington is a family-owned winery based in Quincy. They operate vineyards above Crescent Bar and in the Mattawa area.

Some of their grapes are grown in the Ancient Lakes American Viticultural Area (AVA) while some of them are grown in the Wahluke Slope AVA.

Williams said it's exciting for a family-owned operation to gain state-wide recognition.

"We're family-owned out here, Greg (Jones) grows all the fruit and Jack (Jones) and his family own the winery and they've all just done a remarkable job," he said.

Williams also acknowledged winemaker Victor Palencia, who has been with the company since 2008, in a statement this week.

The winery was named the 2012 Washington Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest last year.

At the time, the regional wine magazine also gave top awards to several of their wines including their 2011 Chardonnay, their 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and their 2011 Pinot Gris.

"We're winning some pretty big awards for being a little winery here in Quincy," said Williams. "It really is exciting."

The winery has tasting rooms in Quincy and Wenatchee. Their wines are available in Moses Lake at Michael's Bistro, Michael's on the Lake, Moses Pointe, and Tsunami Sushi.

On the retail side, Jones of Washington wines are available at Lep-re-kon Harvest Foods.