After a rigorous week of tasting more than 16000 wines in this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, 240 judges gave high marks to California. It won the majority of Gold and Platinum medals awarded to the states.

Rutherford’s Frog’s Leap, 2013 Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon was awarded Best USA Red Bordeaux Varietals Over £15.

Additional producers taking away Gold medals for their California reds this year are Napa Valley’s Long Meadow Ranch, with its 2012 EJ Church Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sonoma Coast’s Marimar Estate,  with its 2013 Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir.

The Decanter World Wine Awards 2016 Chairman, Steven Spurrier, said “Our sole purpose is to recognize and reward quality. This is what consumers all over the world are interested in …”

Later this month, the full results of DWWA 2016 winners will be available at www.decanter.com.