2023 Seattle Wine Awards: Tsillan Cellars Wins 11 Gold

information released, photos courtesy of Tsillan Cellars

A dramatic display of gold medal winning wines was recently entered by Lake Chelan wineries in the 2023 Seattle Wine Awards competition. Sixteen Chelan wineries scored a combined 8 Best of Class, 10 Double Gold and 55 Gold Medals.

Lake Chelan AVAs’ reputation as a prestigious wine growing and wine making area that can compete with the best wine tourism regions in Washington is being built on a solid gold foundation.

With a total of eleven gold medals in the 2023 Seattle Wine Award competition, Tsillan Cellars again led the list of gold medal honors flowing to the Chelan AVA wine industry. The 2020 estate grown Barbera, garnered a Best of Class and 95 points to top the Tsillan cellars award list.

In another recent major wine competition Tsillan Cellars again established the ability of Lake Chelan Southshore vineyards to produce world class wines that compete with the best in the world. With 1,000 wineries and 5,500 wines entered in the 2023 San Francisco Chronical Wine Competition, Tsillan Cellars 2020 Estate Malbec and the 2020 Estate Dolcetto both won Best of Class honors. A well -known national wine writer described the Dolcetto as having "electricity enough to light up a small town".

Bob Jankelson, owner of Tsillan Cellars, has seen the Chelan wine industry grow from only two wineries in 2001 to forty wineries today. Tsillan Cellars has been awarded over 600 Gold medals in national and regional wine competitions since 2003. He is delighted to see other Lake Chelan wineries adding to the Lake Chelan gold rush.