Sir Peter Michael Receives Wine Spectator's Distinguished Service Award for 2014

CALISTOGA, Calif., Oct. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sir Peter Michael, proprietor of Peter Michael Winery in the Knights Valley region of Sonoma County, is the recipient of Wine Spectator's Distinguished Service Award (DSA) for 2014.

Wine Spectator presents its Distinguished Service Award to individuals who have made significant and long-lasting contributions to the wine industry. Many are winery owners, winemakers and grapegrowers. Others have extolled the value of good food and wine, delivered bottles into consumers' hands, stumped for this drink's health-giving properties or worked in laboratories to make scientific sense of an alchemical beverage.

Some of the past recipients of the Distinguished Service Award include: Christian Moueix, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Michel Cazes, Gavin Newsom, Helen Turley, Francis Ford Coppola, Julia Child, Eric de Rothschild, Michael Broadbent and Robert Mondavi.

"As I look through the list of the giants of the wine industry who have been awarded this honor in previous years I can't help wondering just what I am doing among such company ‑ it's rather overwhelming," said Sir Peter Michael. "I think we got here today thanks to the land, climate, skills, experience and great opportunity that California brings together. Some foresight, lots of patience and luck helped along the way too."

One of Sir Peter's missions has been to raise the profile of and respect for the top wines of California in the UK and Europe. The wine program at The Vineyard Hotel, owned by the Michael family and located near his home in Berkshire, England, offers what is arguably the best collection of top California wines on any wine list in Europe.

The award will be presented at Wine Spectator's New York Wine Experience held at the New York Marriott Marquis from October 16-18. The event is sponsored by Wine Spectator's Scholarship Foundation.

About Peter Michael Winery
In 1982 Sir Peter and Lady Michael founded the Peter Michael Winery on 630 acres of rocky volcanic ridges that form the western face of Mount St. Helena in Knights Valley, Sonoma County, California. From the beginning, the Michael Family has dedicated the estate to the credo: "mountain vineyards, classical winemaking, limited production." The first vineyards were planted in 1983 and the first wines produced in the 1987 vintage. Resting on steep hillsides ranging in elevation from 900 to nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, the estate vineyards were gradually expanded to 130 acres. The winery's land holdings grew in 1998 with the acquisition of the 400-acre Seaview property on the true Sonoma Coast just above Fort Ross. After years of study and preparation, 30 acres of this site were planted to Pinot Noir. In 2009, the winery purchased a 41-acre property in Oakville, Napa Valley featuring 18 acres of red Bordeaux varietals.

SOURCE Peter Michael Winery