Purgatory Cellars/White Owl Winery Wins Four Awards in an International Wine Competition

Birds, IL, May 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Purgatory Cellars/White Owl Winery, (whiteowlwinery.com) of Birds, Illinois has just been informed that four of their wines received medals in the 9th Annual Finger Lakes International Wine Competition held last month at Rochester, New York.

The wines to take medals for Purgatory Cellars/White Owl Winery were:

$5 Buck Huck, Silver medal

Persimmon Solera, Bronze medal

Sensuous White, Bronze medal

Cherry Pie, Bronze medal

“We were thrilled that the 5-Buck Huck wine won a silver, “said winery founder, Joy Neighbors. “This is the first contest it has been entered in and these results are exceptional for a new wine.”

The Five Buck Huck wine is a private label wine that Purgatory Cellars/White Owl Winery created, crafts and bottles for Martin and Bayley Inc., owners of Huck’s Convenience Stores and Save a Lot Grocery stores, located throughout the Midwest. Todd Jenney, CEO for Martin and Bayley, Inc. said that he was tremendously pleased with the results.

Over 1,500 wines were entered from the U.S., Canada, and 14 other countries. In order to compete, all of the wineries had to be commercially licensed.

According to Gary Mervis, Chairman an founder of the event, the judging panel consisted of over 50 judges from the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, France and Spain. Judging was done in the single-blind manner, which means that judges were only given the classification of wine they were judging. They did not know the producer or region the wines came from.

According to Neighbors, “This is one wine competition that we look forward to and make sure to enter every year. All net proceeds from this competition go directly to Camp Good Days and Special Times, Inc. which works to improve the quality of life for children and their families who are dealing with cancer. It’s a chance to help out a great cause and win some awards too.”

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