Merritt Winery Wins Award

FORESTVILLE - The Merritt Estate Winery recently won the Chairman's Best of Class award for its Bella Rosa wine at the Long Beach Grand Cru International Wine Competition.

The competition, which is one of the top international wine competitions in the United States, was held in July at the Long Beach Petroleum Club in Long Beach, Calif. The competition producers received more than 1,947 wine submissions from across the world. Some countries that were represented were Italy, Mexico, South Africa, United States, Australia, New Zealand, France and Argentina.

The Long Beach Grand Cru International Wine Competition is the ninth competition Merritt has competed and won in during 2008, with the Bella Rosa's award being the winery's second Chairman's Best of Class award in 2008. To qualify for the Chairman's Best of Class award, a wine must have already won a gold medal at the competition. The wines are then stripped of their brand labels and presented to a panel of judges. The panel of judges, who are various professionals in the industry, grade the wine strictly based on its varietal and taste.

''Whenever we win an award at a wine competition, it is a reminder of why we continue to produce wines every year,'' said William Merritt, Merritt Estate Winery president. ''My goal when we started creating wines here in 1976 was to provide world class wine to everyone. When we win awards on a global scale like this, we have achieved that goal. I'm proud of where this winery has come and where we are going.''

After the wine competition concluded, all remaining wines were donated to a fundraiser held in August at the Long Beach Rainbow Lagoon. The event helps raise money for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to help pay for quality legal services for seniors, low-income families and battered women. More than $334,000 was raise for the foundation with Merritt's help, among others.