SPARKLING WINE TAKES TOP HONORS FOR FIRST TIME EVER April 12, 2021 (Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Winners have been determined in the 2021 Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge (NCWC), and for the first time in the event’s nine-year history, a sparkling wine has bested the competition. Sonoma-Cutrer's 2014 Grand Cuvée was chosen by judges as the Best of the Best. This regional competition rates wines exclusively produced and bottled in Northern California's premier winegrowing region. Eligible wines must be made from fruit sourced in the North Coast AVAs of Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma, Marin and parts of Solano counties. This includes any bottled wine labeled with these AVAs as their main source of grapes and whose winery is in California. This year’s NCWC had the highest ever number of entries (nearly 1,200) from a record number of individual wineries (221), indicating both the prestige of the competition and the hunger for the r