Earlier this year (2025), I was once again fortunate enough to be asked to judge the annual Colorado Governor’s Cup wine competition, part of a group of industry veterans who evaluated over 250 wine submissions from 40+ Colorado wineries. This year, we were also treated to entries from 8 Idaho wineries, 1 Arizona winery, and 1 New Mexico meadery.
This event is always well-run, always a good time, and it was once again a great experience to see how CO wine is faring. The wine landscape there continues to evolve, with quality steadily on the rise. The 2025 winners for the Governor’s Cup selection have been announced, and you can check out the winning wines here.
What’s interesting to me is how it’s not just the usual suspects who are kicking ass in this competition year after year. Some have been doing well and medaling in this competition for a few years, like Carboy, Sauvage Spectrum, and Stone Cottage Cellars. Repeat judges like me have kind of grown to expect seeing some of these names make it into the top 10-12 wines at the competition every year.
But some others, even with medaling wines in previous years, came on like unexpected gangbusters in 2025. In particular, the white wines of The Storm Cellar took this competition by, well, storm, with FIVE of their whites nabbing Double Gold medals. If you’re in the market for off-the-beaten path whites, you are going to want to look some of these up (and just keep your eye on this producer in general).
Anyway, the full list of medal-winners can be found at https://coloradowine.com/governors-cup/ .
Cheers!