What Does Virginia Make Best?

If you want to know what Virginia makes best, look no further than the annual Governor's Case Awards. These are the highest scoring gold medal winners — the best of the best.

We’ve analyzed the winners from the last five years, and the results are a little surprising.

As you can, blends do well. Meritage and the “other blends,” account for 50% of the winners. (To be frank, a lot of the “Other blends” category are Bordeaux-blends like Meritage, but not labeled as such.) Not surprisingly, Petit Verdot — our up-and-coming grape — is the second most awarded varietal. What’s surprising is that Viognier, the official grape of Virginia, only has won three times. And America’s favorite white wine, Chardonnay, has only one award.