ORONDO, Wash.,/PRNewswire/ — Rocky Pond Estate Winery, the Washington producer crafting wines from their beautiful and sustainably farmed riverside and lakeside estate vineyards, has reached an agreement with highly regarded and accomplished winemaker and viticulturist Steve Leveque. He will join the team for the 2020 growing season and will lead all winemaking activities alongside their established Winemaker Shane Collins and current vineyard management team led by Javier Rocha.
“We are filled with excitement and anticipation as we welcome Steve to the team,” stated Owners and Founders David and Michelle Dufenhorst. “This is another building block in our mission to elevate Rocky Pond as the top Eastern Washington wine destination. We believe in the potential of this special region, its micro-climates, and soils. By adding Steve to share his wealth of experience and to guide our excellent winemaking and vineyard teams, we hope to take our offering to the next level.”
Leveque’s list of winemaking work is impressive, extensive, and full of household names like HALL, Chalk Hill, Opus One, and Mondavi. His addition to the Rocky Pond team is a monumental investment in the future of wine quality and vineyard management that will further elevate and expand the burgeoning program for decades to come.
Leveque honed his winemaking techniques during his 10-year tenure as winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery. He also gleaned cutting-edge ideas from leading viticulture research and visionary collaborators including prominent wine consultant Michel Rolland. Steve went on to work as executive vice president and winemaker of Chalk Hill Estate Winery in Sonoma, where he handcrafted an award-winning portfolio from small-lot Bordeaux varietals and Chardonnay.
Leveque has also earned three 100 Point scores from Wine Advocate, two 100 Point scores from Jeb Dunnuck and the #2 Wine in the World from Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2011. Over 80 of Steve’s wines have been rated 99-95 Points from the elite wine publications.
“I am excited and humbled to be working with such a dedicated and talented team. The level of commitment and leadership shown by the Dufenhorst family is something I rarely get to experience, and I can’t wait to make wine from their amazing vineyards,” states Steve Leveque. “The Double D and Rocky Reach vineyards, with an abundance of rock and glacial silt soils, coupled with ideal climatic conditions, makes me confident that world-class wines will be the standard at Rocky Pond.”
The Dufenhorsts have been actively compiling quite the all-star team. They are laser-focused on increasing quality across the board through innovation in winemaking, sustainable vineyard practices, and elevated hospitality experiences. Leveque will work alongside current Rocky Pond Winemaker and native of Lake Chelan Shane Collins in addition to President John Ware who recently took the reins after twenty years at Quilceda Creek.
Rocky Pond currently operates two beautifully adorned tasting lounges – one in Chelan and the other in Woodinville – for their beloved wine club members and wine lovers alike. They invite guests for wine tastings, bottle purchases, and culinary chef specials created by their in-house Executive Chef each week by reservation at www.rockypondwinery.com.
With more than 70,000 new wines coming to market each year, consumers are overwhelmed with options leaving a world of incredible wines that consumers don’t have the opportunity to discover. The technology, branded Taste Match, provides the most accurate ranking for a user’s personal affinity to various wines, surpassing the accuracy of wine critic scores and community reviews, which doesn’t account for a consumer’s personal tastes or budget.
Sequoia Grove Winery is dedicated to sustainable agriculture and has recently become certified in Napa Green Land and Fish-Friendly Farming for their estate vineyards. These latest certifications, combined with the winery’s recent re-certification as a Napa Green Winery, demonstrate an estate that is deeply committed to environmentally-responsible practices throughout its entire operation.
“At Azuñia, our focus is on sustainably farming the best agave and making premium quality tequila with authentic flavor. Our tequila is homegrown and handmade, crafted with care by the same family for two generations. We are incredibly proud of our team and the artistry that produces outstanding tequila year after year,” said Joe Giansante, managing director, 
And with that said your trusty wine and spirits reporter headed over to Ocean Prime in the center of Beverly Hills to spend the better part of an hour investigating which of the Double Golds I thought our readers might like to try. (Warning: Some of these wines and spirits may not yet be available in your state.)
Under the guidance of Vinitaly International Managing Director Stevie Kim and Vinitaly International Academy Scientific Director Ian D’Agata, the international team of judges is led by 3 General Chairmen: Bernard Burtschy, president of the French Wine Press; Robert Joseph, Editor at Large for Meininger’s Wine Business International; and Spanish Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros Torres. Main task of the Chairmen is to re-taste wines with an initial score of 90, that is the score a wine needs to be published on 5StarWines-The Book. On the selection he chaired for two years in a row, Joseph commented, “There are new producers, new regions, and new grapes every year. I just love being here, discovering all these flavours, and then go on to Vinitaly to meet the actual people that produced them and understand why and how they are making these wines.” Ballesteros Torres, who finds 5StarWines enriching from a personal point of view, added, “I think it is a great opportunity for the Italian wines participating. 5StarWines is a major tool for Italian producers because they will have the chance to have a feedback from top level experts from all over the world. Another quality of the event is that while tasting, judges get the chance talk with each other, creating an environment of exchange and growth.”