Frog's Leap Cabernet Wins Platinum at Decanter Wine Awards; Long Meadow Ranch, Grgich Hills, Hedges Family Estate, and Marimar Also Win Medals

The prestigious 2016 Decanter Wine World Awards, the world's biggest fine wine competition, is sending five U.S. wineries awards for eight, organically grown medal-winning wines from California and Washington state. In fact, in the very top tier - platinum - only an organically grown wine from the U.S. won.

And in the second tier - gold medalists from the U.S. - two out of three winners were from organically grown wines.

So 75 percent of the top awards for U.S. wines - platinum and gold - went to organically grown wines.

That more than echoes the theme of the recent UCLA study that found organically grown fine wines scored, on average, 4 points higher than all other wines (for red wines only), all things considered. (This report will be the subject of a future post here).

So, kudos to the winners, most of whom don't even rate a 90+ point score from Mr. Parker, or Mr. Galloni, or Mr. Wine Spectator. (Perhaps their palates differ from many other fine wine experts). Among the wine competition's 240 judges were 69 Masters of Wine and 26 Master Sommeliers.

Here are the U.S. wines from organic vines that they rated the best in the biggest competition on the world wine stage:

Platinum 

130 winners from around the world

The U.S.'s only platinum medal - for Best USA Red Bordeaux Varietals (over 15 British pounds) - went to:

• Cabernet Sauvignon, 2013, Frog's Leap, Rutherford AVA, Napa Valley, 95 pts. $57

Gold 

378 winners from around the world

3 from the U.S., of which two are organically grown:

• Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012, Long Meadow Ranch, EJ Church, Napa Valley, $95

• Pinot Noir 2013, Marimar Torres, Mas Cavalls, Sonoma Coast, $43

Silver

2,567 winners from around the world

30 silver medals awarded to U.S. wines, of which two were from organically grown estates:

• Cabernet Sauvignon, Long Meadow Ranch, Napa Valley, 2012, $95

• Chardonnay, Marimar Torres, La Masia, Russian River Valley (Sonoma), $35

Bronze

6,254 winners from around the world

133 bronze medals awarded to U.S. wines, of which 3 went to organically grown wines:

• Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Hedges Family Wine Estate, Red Mountain AVA, Washington, $70 for a bottle (available on Amazon.com) (certified "Biodynamic Wine" - no additives, except for sulfites)

• Cabernet Sauvignon, 2013, Grgich Hills Estate, Napa Valley AVA, $69

• Chardonnay, Miljenko's Selection, 2014, Grgich Hills Estate, Napa Valley AVA, $60

For complete wine descriptions, visit the Decanter World Wine Awards web site.