Columbia Crest 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Wine Spectator’s No. 1 Wine in the World for 2009, Featured at New World Wine Experience

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates President and CEO, Ted Baseler, presented the first Washington wine to be named the No. 1 Wine in the World – the 2005 Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – at Wine Spectator’s New World Wine Experience in Las Vegas on October 30, 2010.

The weekend Wine Experience event included the "Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wine Tasting," which showcased the Top 10 wines from 2009 as selected by the Wine Spectator board of editors and published in the December 31, 2009 issue. More than 1,000 people attended the seminar where Baseler presented the Columbia Crest wine along with a panel of luminaries from Tuscany and Spain to the Rhône Valley and California, each taking the opportunity to comment on their wine as the audience tasted.

Wine Spectator's tasting staff reviewed more than 17,000 new-release wines last year, rating more than 3,800 at 90 points and higher on the 100-point scale. From there, the wines were narrowed down by price (value), case production (availability) and the "X-factor," or excitement.

"Columbia Crest's ability to combine quality and value has earned it 14 places on our Top 100 since '97" stated Gloria Maroti Frazee, director of video and education for the Wine Spectator. "Columbia Crest and Winemaker Ray Einberger have reached the top spot. This wine really delivers; with each sip you can taste Washington state’s trade mark combination of ripe fruit and great structure. Combine that with a 95-point score, a $27 price tag and a 5,000 case production and you’ve got X-factor," Maroti Frazee concluded.

Baseler presented the wine on behalf of Columbia Crest and during his speech he shared the history of the winery and the Washington wine industry, background on the winery’s Reserve program, and the winemaking techniques.

Later in the evening, at the Grand Award Banquet, a lavish black-tie dinner that was the crowning event of the weekend, Wine Spectator editors presented Baseler with the award for the producer of the 2009 No. 1 wine from its Top 100. Columbia Crest Head winemaker, Ray Einberger and Executive Vice President of Winemaking and Vineyards, Doug Gore were also in attendance.

For complete coverage of the New World Wine Experience visit www.winespectator.com

Columbia Crest's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has been ranked previously on the magazine's Top 100 list. In 2004, Wine Spectator ranked the 2001 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon No. 30, and over the years 15 Columbia Crest wines have been named to the Top 100 list.

Einberger, who became head winemaker in 2003, joined Columbia Crest in 1993 and helped to establish the winery's Reserve program, which has received consistently strong acclaim.

Columbia Crest's Reserve wines are hand-crafted in le petit chai, a small winery within the overall winery. The chai is dedicated to Walter Clore, the father of the Washington wine industry, and it’s there that the artisanal approach to winemaking is reminiscent of the top boutique wineries and châteaux. In fact, cellar techniques are modeled, in part, on Einberger's experience working in the cellars of Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Clerc Milon in Bordeaux and Opus One in Napa Valley.

Founded in 1983, Columbia Crest has grown from a small winery in a relatively unknown wine region to one of the most significant wineries in the U.S. and a major force behind Washington state's emergence as a world class wine region. More information about the winery can be found at columbia-crest.com.

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For further information:
Erin Shane
425.415.3696
erin.shane@smwe.com