Winery wins gold medals, blue ribbons at competition
BY JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Mar 07, 2007 - 12:26:20 am CST
PAWNEE CITY — Whether snooty wine aficionados know it or not, a Nebraska hog farmer makes some of the best wine in America.
Max Hoffman, an unassuming farmer who raises a few pigs and cattle on his property near Burchard, helped the SchillingBridge Winery and Microbrewery win a “best of show” honor last month at an international wine competition in Florida.
“We’re very proud of Max,” said Mike Schilling, who owns the winery with his wife, Sharon. Hoffman, who started growing grapes nearly 30 years ago as a hobby and had never made wine commercially until two years ago, just smiled and shrugged.
“I thought it was pretty nice,” he said. “Sharon was pretty excited.”
She had good reason to be excited. The winery’s 2006 Edelweiss won double gold in the varietal category and best-of-show in the white category at the 19th annual Florida State International Wine and Juice Competition Feb. 10 in Tampa Bay.
Wineries from Germany, Australia, South Africa, New York, Washington and California were among those that entered nearly 1,600 wines in the competition.
The honor marks the biggest win for a Nebraska winery because of the event’s prestige and the quality of competition, said Paul Read, professor of horticulture and viticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“We tend to think of California, and rightly so, as the 800-pound gorilla of wine production in this country,” he said Tuesday. “To have a parallel achievement by a Nebraska winery is huge, it really is.”
The Edelweiss grape grows well in the colder climates of the Upper Midwest and several Nebraska wineries make excellent examples of the style, Read said. But the state also produces other exceptional wine styles.
Nebraska has about 20 wineries and several have won high honors at competitions. For example, Cuthills Vineyard near Pierce, James Arthur Vineyards near Raymond and Mac’s Creek Vineyards near Lexington have all won double gold medals in the past, Read said.
Double gold signifies a unanimous decision among the panel of judges that an entry deserves a gold medal. Best-of-show is the only higher honor for a wine.
SchillingBridge’s win came just two years after it opened in Pawnee City, a community of 1,033 about 90 miles southeast of Lincoln. Because they’re young doesn’t mean they’re inexperienced, Sharon Schilling said.
The couple knew Hoffman for years as a customer at the grain elevator they formerly owned. Hoffman knew they liked wine, so he often shared his homemade vintages with them.
When the Schillings decided to start their winery, Hoffman was the logical choice for their vintner. Hoffman, who has a degree in animal science, made the jump to commercial winemaking by doing lots of research and reading, they said.
“He’s very intelligent,” Mike Schilling said. “Sharon and I are very fortunate to have him.”
This year, the winery is offering 17 different wines for sale, three of which won silver and bronze medals in Florida. They grow grapes on the winery property and buy them from contract growers in Southeast Nebraska, Mike Schilling said.
Hoffman described their Edelweiss as lightly sweet with tropical fruit flavors on the finish.
Sharon Schilling said since they won best-of-show, they’ve received orders from California and New York. Callers seem to consider a Nebraska-made wine almost a novelty.
“Not only is it a big deal for us, it’s a big deal for Nebraska,” she said.
