Cedar Valley Winery wins medals

Cedar Valley Winery of Batavia received one gold medal and one silver medal in the Fifth Annual Mid-American Wine Competition in Ankeny.

The winery?s awards included a sweepstakes nomination for its Seyval.

?These wines were top notch,? said Bob Foster, director of the Mid-American Wine Competition. ?Consumers ought to track them down and enjoy them.?

The competition was held July 8-10 and included wines from 14 Midwestern states. More than 530 wines were entered by 82 different wineries. Professional wine judges from throughout the United States awarded 68 gold medals, 173 silver medals and 153 bronze medals. Full results can be found at www.midamericanwine.org.

?The quality of the wines from the Midwest is very impressive,? said lead judge Doug Frost of Kansas City. ?It conclusively demonstrates that the Midwest is making top notch wines.?

In selecting judges, emphasis was placed upon finding experts in wine production, wine service and wine distribution. The judges were selected by Frost, who is one of only three people in the world to earn both the coveted master of wine degree and the master sommelier title. The judging panel included a mix of seasoned professionals and a select group of local wine judges who passed a strenuous judges qualifying exam. The judges have more than 200 years of cumulative judging experience.

?The local volunteers who made this competition possible, were some of the finest, hard-working people I have ever met,? said Mid-American Wine Competition Director Bob Foster, who has been running California wine competitions for more than 25 years. ?They were superb and made the competition possible. They were flawless.?

Cedar Valley Winery was opened in July 2009 by owners Seth and Steve Miller and their parents David and Pam Miller.

The Cedar Valley Winery hoped to distinguish itself from the other Iowa wineries by establishing a sound reputation for dry wines.

Cedar Valley Winery began with six acres of grapes planted with seven different types of grapes to produce seven different types of wine.

Maintaining the grapes takes time, and each vine needs maintenance approximately seven or eight times each year. Harvest takes place in September and October. During harvest, the Millers and their helpers might start each day at 6 a.m. and work until mid-afternoon. They have to select a grape type, harvest all the grapes from that type and ferment the grapes at the same time to ensure consistent taste and proper fermentation. Approximately 15-20 people help harvest the grapes each year, and about four or five people help with processing.

The grapes are fermented for seven to 10 days and then aged in bulk for six months to a year. Red wines are aged longer than white wines.

The winery produces about 2,000 gallons each year.