Sonoma’s Hop Kiln Winery submitted both their premium estate-grown HKG Estate varietals and proprietary blends for judging at the San Francisco Chronicle’s prestigious wine competition and won 3 silver medals, including one in the Pinot Noir category for their HKG 2009 Estate Grown Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.

Silver medals were also awarded to their HKG Russian River Valley Estate Rose of Pinot Noir in the Dry Rose category and to the 2009 Thousand Flowers Proprietary Blend in the Other White Varietals and Blends category.

Hop Kiln Winery is located on the esteemed Westside Road in Sonoma’s venerable Russian River Valley. The winery is an old hops plantation, with a tasting room inhabiting the original, 105 year-old hops processing building included on the California Historic Registry. Hop Kiln’s abundantly rich acreage is planted with top-quality fruit, producing HKG Estate varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Rose, and Pinot Grigio. The winery is in the process of converting all their property to estate plantings.

SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle’s online moniker) includes W Seattle in their Five Places column of locales worthy of a viz from Manhattan “socials.”

“Has anyone else noticed that these “Gossip Girl” kids have been drinking at Manhattan’s most upscale bars for years – and still aren’t 21? Dust off the Louboutins or tux, whip out the ID and go for a night on the town. The W Hotel in Seattle (and in San Francisco) serves cocktails that rival any Manhattan libation, and is replete with an A-list scene and ultrachic setting.”

Read the whole column here.

Hop Kiln Winery recently entered their soon-to-be-released, 2008 HKG Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Estate into the venerable San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest competition of American wines in the world with over 4,900 wines submitted with 63 professional wine experts tasting and evaluating these wines over 4 days.

Hop Kiln is pleased to announce that their delicious 2008 Pinot Noir received a “Gold Medal” in the $40 -$49.99 category!

If you’re eager to taste it yourself before it’s released to the public, Hop Kiln will be at the San Francisco Chronicle’s public tasting on Saturday, February 20th at the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center from 2-5pm.

To purchase your tickets visit http://www.winejudging.com/event_tickets.htm.