Honoring innovative Sweepstake-winning winemakers

Sparkling Sweepstake Winner

Pauline Lhote

Chandon

Blanc de Pinot Noir, California, $27

As head winemaker at Chandon, Pauline Lhote is responsible for every part of the winemaking process from grape to glass. To say that Lhote is passionate about bubbles is an understatement as she grew up in the Champagne region of France. At 14, she told her parents she wanted to be a winemaker with a focus on sparkling wine.

Lhote earned a National Diploma of Winemaking in Reims and early in her career, she focused on crafting rosé champagnes. Lhote then set her sights on Chandon in Napa Valley, the first French-owned sparkling wine house in California. She arrived in Yountville in 2006 and fell in love with the Napa region.

At just 41 years old, she will celebrate her 19th harvest at Chandon. Lhote has been working to create a new Chandon “house style,” and she also works closely with her fellow winemakers at Chandon’s wineries in Argentina, Brazil, Australia, China and India.

She has been hailed as a female leader in the industry by the likes of Glamour, Marie Claire and Nylon, as well as named a “Rising Star” by the Drinks Business and acknowledged in Wine Enthusiast’s 2017 40 Under 40 and Create & Cultivate’s 2019 100 List. Recently, Lhote was awarded the medal of the Order of the Agricultural Merit by the French Republic for her accomplishments and promoting the French savoir faire.

White Sweepstake Winner

Brent Amos

Las Positas Vineyards

2023 Verdelho, Livermore Valley, Calif., $42

Brent Amos grew up in El Dorado County, and some of his best memories are of running through vineyards as a kid while his parents were wine tasting. While studying engineering in college, these fond memories kept resurfacing, and he quickly realized that wine is where his future lay.

So it was that at the ripe old age of 20, he started his wine career as a harvest worker in Sonoma County, then finished his enology degree. He has been making wine in the Livermore Valley since 2005 and is the winemaker, general manager and partner at Las Positas Vineyards.

For a comprehensive list of all the Best of Class, double gold, gold, silver and bronze awards, visit www.winejudging.com.

RON ESSEX PHOTOGRAPHY

CHRISTOPHER M. HOWARD