NY Riesling winners in Australia not all Finger Lakes

Sometimes you have to go halfway around the world to get some accolades. That was the case of a number of New York State entries in the recent Canberra International Riesling Competition (CIRC) in Australia.

Red Newt Cellars' 2013 Finger Lakes Tango Oaks Vineyard Riesling was rated at 96 points and "Best American Riesling." The sane winery also scored a silver medal with its 2013 The Knoll Lahoma Vineyards Riesling, and scored 93 points.

Other New York gold medal entries:

• Martha Clara Vineyards' 2014 Long Island Estate Reserve Riesling (96)
• Brotherhood's 2014 Finger Lakes Late Harvest Riesling (95)
• Sheldrake Point's 2013 Finger Lakes Reserve Dry Riesling (95)

All of which is interesting, in that the Finger Lakes winemakers consider Riesling their signature wine but two of the four New York winners were not from that area. Martha Clara is a Long Island winery, and Brotherhood is in the Hudson Valley.

The 17th annual competition covered more than 500 wines from eight countries. The "Best of Show" was Australia's Ferngrove 2016 Off-Dry Riesilng Limited Release, with the "Best Dry Riesling" going to Bird in Hand 2016 Riesling, also from Australia, and the "Best Sweet Riesling" awarded to Germany's Weingut Georg Muller Stiftung 2015 Hattenheimer Hassel Riesling Trockenbeerenausele VDP.GROSSE LAGE.

Go here for the full competition results.

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