SACRAMENTO – California is known for its wine, and the California State Fair's Commercial Wine Competition is a coveted award that has been a key part of the state's robust wine industry.

The California State Fair is also the oldest wine competition in the country, which means winning top honors at the fair's competition is quite an achievement.

This year, 2,705 California wines from 691 wine companies were judged over three days. The wine judges are selected from respected winemakers, wine merchants, writers, promoters and educators from across the country. Once again, the judging was led by Mark Chandler.

"Consumers should find lots to celebrate among our string of medal winners," said Chandler.

And he's right. In all, 98 double gold medals, 267 gold medals, 1,033 silver medals and 1,156 bronze medals were awarded.

There were also 320 best of class of varietal awards, 24 best of California awards, 22 best of region awards, three best micro winery awards, the best value award, the Golden State Winery of the Year Award and five best of show awards.

The 2018 Top California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition winners are:

Best of Show Red: Double Gold 99
St. Amant Winery
2016 Touriga, The Old Soldier
Amador County

Best of Show White: Double Gold 99
Picchetti Winery
2017 Sauvignon Blanc
Cedar Lane Vineyard
Arroyo Seco

Best of Show Sparkling: Double Gold 99
Gwinllan Estate
2016, Pinot Noir Rose, Brut Sparkling Wine
El Dorado

Best of Show Pink: Double Gold 99
Malene
2017 Rosé
Santa Barbara County

Best of Show Dessert: Double Gold 98
Stephen & Walker
2012 Botrytis Chardonnay, Late Harvest
Mendocino Ridge

Golden State Winery of the Year
Imagery Estate Winery

Golden State Vineyard of the Year Award
Paraiso Springs Vineyard

Wine Lifetime Achievement Awards
Greg Boeger
The Bogle Family

California All Stars Awards
Ken Fugelsang
Dennis Martin

A searchable list of the 2018 CA State Fair Commercial Wine Competition winners can be found here.

The awards for Golden State Vineyard of the Year, Wine Lifetime Achievement, and California All Stars were awarded during a Wine Judges Dinner at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg on March 27th. See more about the winners and the awards here.

The Best of Show commercial wine competition winners will be acknowledged the morning of Thursday, June 21, on the west steps of the Capitol.

Later that evening, the winning winemakers will sample their wines at the Best of California Tasting event at Cal Expo, held prior to the California State Fair Gala benefiting The Friends of the California State Fair. You can find more information about the Best of California Tasting Event at http://CAStateFair.org/gala.

The commercial wine competition winners will also be presenting during the CA State Fair Taste of California Experience Classes July 13 to 29.

Fair guests can learn how to taste and pair the best California wines during these classes taught by wine experts. Registration for these classes begin in May at http://CAStateFair.org.