Essensia Receives Coveted Golden Bear Award

This week Quady Essensia Orange Muscat officially received the California State Fair’s prestigious Golden Bear Award after earning a 100-point perfect score, double gold, Best of Class and Best of Show Dessert during the fair’s Commercial Wine Competition in April. The competition’s Chief Judge Mark Chandler led 39 expert judges through the evaluation of 1,587 wines representing 309 of California’s top wine brands.

The California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition is the oldest and most prestigious wine competition in the U.S., honoring the very best the Golden State has to offer. During this same competition, Essensia creator Andrew Quady received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering of the sweet wine category in California and the U.S. throughout his 50-year career in the wine industry.

The competition is open exclusively to wines made with fruit grown and produced in California’s 11 wine-growing regions. Wines are judged by class, varietal, style, and growing region, celebrating the depth and diversity of California’s winemaking industry. Essensia was one of two wines to receive a perfect (100 point) score from the competition, which had more than 1,500 entries.

“The Commercial Wine Competition is a true celebration of California’s rich agricultural heritage and the incredible talent of our state’s winemakers,” said Tom Martinez, CEO of the California Exposition & State Fair. “We’re proud to showcase these award-winning wines at the Fair and give our guests a chance to experience the best of the Golden State.”