Winemakers recognized for creating top wines

SPECIALTY SWEEPSTAKE Willem Johnson 4R Ranch Vineyards & Winery 2017 Texas Nectar Nero Rose, Muenster, Texas

“I didn’t seek out this career; it found me,” Willem Johnson said. What started out as a bartending job to pay for college led to his passion for creating balanced flavor — first in cocktail creation, then in food and wine pairing and finally, winemaking. “Everybody has a calling... mine is wine, everything from vine to venue.” Johnson’s has 20-plus years of experience as a sommelier and wine buyer for fine restaurants in Vail and Nantucket. He also spent a few years on the sales side of a beautiful portfolio of Italian wines, which gave him the opportunity to travel around the world tasting wine. He is a huge fan of Mediterranean varietals and Old World winemaking styles. “In my own winemaking, I strive to produce handcrafted wines that balance Old World elegance with New World vibrancy, wines that play well with food and that are equally suited to just sit and sip. After all, wine is just grape juice that knows somebody. If you like what’s in your glass, that makes it good wine.”

SPECIALTY SWEEPSTAKE Peter Prager Prager Winery and Port Works Napa Valley 10 Year Old Tawny Port Noble Companion, St Helena, Calif.

Peter Prager is the second-generation winemaker at Prager Winery & Port Works, having taken over winemaking duties from his father, Jim Prager, in 1995. Prager learned his craft both at Prager and at Cal State Fresno where he earned his enology degree. Winemaking at Prager is a family effort, with his brothers and brother-in-law assisting in all aspects of the business. His 42 years of experience include everything from picking grapes and bottling to tasting room sales and lab work. The winemaking philosophy at Prager is to harvest grapes at optimum ripeness and create appropriately aged ports that are a touch drier than most with balanced sweetness and acidity followed by a smooth brandy finish. Prager truly enjoys sharing his Napa Valley ports with port lovers, and especially looks forward to introducing his food friendly ports to new port drinkers.

WINE LABEL SWEEPSTAKE Heidi Shea Bonterra Organic Vineyards 2016 California Equinox Red Label Winner, Hopland, Calif.

The Wine Label Sweepstake label was designed by Heidi Shea, a graphic designer at Fetzer Vineyards since 2015. A graduate of Santa Rosa Junior College in Graphic Design, she previously did metalsmithing for her own jewelry designs and freelanced in graphic design before joining Fetzer Vineyards. She has won previous awards for her label designs, notably for HOODWINKED’s 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon label. The Bonterra label was printed by Grigsby Label, based in El Dorado Hills. The printer was founded in 2009 by Scott and Pamela Grigsby, who continue to manage the company. The company lists Gallus Flexographic and rotary screen technologies, rotary emboss, liquid foil metallic inks and foil stamping among their capabilities.

JOHN B. SUTTON