AtlanticSeaboard

Wine Association

Montheith Bowl Information

The perpetual sterling silver Tiffany Monteith Trophy is considered one of the most elegant and prestigious awards in the U.S. wine industry.

Since 1980, it has been presented to individuals or organizations that have performed exceptional contributions to the development and sustainability of the American wine industry by actively providing leadership and motivation in addressing both legislative and regulatory issues that confront the industry, supporting innovative and technical research in both the fields of enology and viticulture, also encouraging wine and health related studies, as well as contributing to consumer public wine education and appreciation through the arts, literature and the public media.

The perpetual Monteith Wine Bowl Trophy, some 18” long and weighing 123 ounces of pure sterling silver, was created in 1980 by Tiffany & Co. of New York for the Vinifera Wine Growers Association. It represents one of the earliest forms of elegant silversmithing and today is considered to be one of the most prestigious honor awards in the U.S. wine industry.

As early as 1689, toward the end of the Stuart period in England, similar designs of the Monteith have been used in the service of wine. Mentioned by an antiquary, Anthony Wood, in 1683, it was described as “a vessel or bason notched at the brims to let drinking glasses hang there by the foot, so that the body or drinking parte might hang in the water to coole them. Such a bason was called a ‘Monteigh’ from a fantastical Scot called ‘Monsieur Monteigh,’ who at that time or a little before, wore the bottome of his cloake or coate so notched.”

In 1789, Thomas Jefferson brought back from his assignment in France as Minister, a seau crénelé or crenelated porcelain bowl similar to the Monteith used to cool wine glasses. The bowl’s design was that of a cornflower garland and is said to be the pattern used exclusively for the tableware of Louis XVI. Jefferson’s version of the Monteith is on display today in the dining room at Monticello.

Smaller individual glass versions were used by George Washington at Mount Vernon and are also on display in the Mansion’s dining room.

More recently, in 1955, Colonial Williamsburg commissioned the Wedgwood Company of England to make a duplicate copy of the Monteith to commemorate the Governor’s Palace.

Montheith Bowl Winners

On the afternoon of May 4th, 2011, at the Art and Soul Restaurant on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the elegant sterling silver Tiffany Monteith Trophy, one of the most prestigious awards in the American wine industry, was presented to Robert P. “Bobby” Koch, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Wine Institute. The occasion was a luncheon meeting of the leadership of the Wine Institute during the organization’s annual Washington, D.C. industry policy and issues discussions and meetings with key federal departments and agencies, as well as with members of Congress of concern to the continuing growth of the wine industry.

Bobby Koch, since joining Wine Institute in 1992, has demonstrated exemplary leadership in promoting the major policy and market interests of the wine industry and for providing “leadership, unity of purpose and inspiration toward the sustainability and economic growth of the American wine industry both nationally and internationally.”

Left to right: Tom Klein, Wine Institute Chairman, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Dave Barber, ASWA Vice President, Bobby Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute and recipient of the 2011 awarding of the Perpetual Monteith Trophy, Gordon W. Murchie, President Emeritus, VWGA/ASWA, and Carl Brandhorst, ASWA President.

In March of 2009, the 28th recipient of the Monteith Trophy was Karen Ross, president, California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) in recognition of her years of professional and per-sonal endeavors to encourage, support and promote the positive growth and economic viability of the American wine industry in general.

For the period of 2007 through 2008, the Monteith Trophy, in recognition of America’s 400th celebration and the May 1607 establishment of the first English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, was presented to the Yorktown-Jamestown Foundation for placement and public viewing at the Jamestown information center and museum. Receiving the trophy is former Virginia Delegate Vincent F. Callahan, Jr., Chairman of the State Legislature’s Appropriations Committee and Co-Chairman of the Yorktown-Jamestown Foundation at a special presentation ceremony held at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Presenting the Monteith are President and CEO of Mount Vernon, James Rees (at left), the 2006 trophy recipient, and VWGA president, Gordon W. Murchie, who is also the wine consultant to Mount Vernon, on the right. An inscription noting the 400th anniversary of Jamestown was added to the trophy quoting how the writings of Captain John Smith about Jamestown as printed in London in 1612, “Of those hedge grapes wee made neere 20 gallons of wine, which was neare as good as your French Brittish wine…” During the two year anniversary celebration, it was reported that several thousand visitors to Jamestown, namely school children, viewed the Monteith Trophy.

On October 5th, 2004, the U.S. Congressional Wine Caucus, founded in 1999 and consisting of some 250 House and Senate members, was honored at a special presentation and wine tasting reception on Capitol Hill of the prestigious 123 ounce sterling silver Tiffany Monteith Wine bowl Trophy in recognition of the essential and strategic federal legislative and fiscal support it had provided to viticultural research and the growth of the American wine industry. Receiving the award were the Co-Chairmen of the Wine Caucus, Representatives George Radanovich and Mike Thompson, both from California.

On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, in this photo of the underside of the Monteith Trophy the hand-engraved tribute to the Wine Caucus is visible at the bottom, along with the reflection of Representatives George Radanovich at left and Mike Thompson on the right. Holding the bowl is presenter, VWGA President Gordon Murchie, whose reflection is at the top.

This is the actual engraving on the presentation bowl featuring the American eagle which was done by the engravers at the Tiffany Company of New York.

Figure 1The 2005 recipient of the Monteith Trophy was George Washington’s Mount Vernon for its 15 plus years of hosting annual spring and fall wine festivals on the lawn at the rear of the Mansion overlooking the Potomac River with General and Martha Washington overseeing the festivities. At a special ceremony on Capitol Hill held in the elegant House Agricultural Committee Room 1300, Longworth House Office Building, Co-Chairmen of the Congressional Wine Caucus, Representatives George Radanovich (left) and Mike Thompson (center) present the Monteith Wine Bowl to Mr. James C. Rees, President and Chief Executive officer of the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens (right).

Recipients:

• 2011

  Robert P. “Bobby” Koch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wine Institute
• 2009

  Karen Ross, President, California Association of Winegrape Growers
• 2006–08

  Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and Jamestown 2007, America’s 400th Anniversary of the establishment of the Jamestown Colony in May of 1607


• 2005

  Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, James Rees, Executive Director
• 2004

  United States Congressional Wine Caucus, Washington, D.C.
• 2003

  WineAmerica (American Vintners Association)
• 2002

  Donniella Winchell, Executive Director, Ohio Wine Producers Association
• 2001

  American Wine Society, President, Pamela J. Davey
• 2000

  Willy K. Frank, Dr. Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars, Ltd., Hammondsport, New York, founded in 1962 by his father, Dr. Konstantin Frank, “The Father of Vinifera,” and the first recipient of the Monteith Trophy.


• 1999

  Ms. Lynne Tuft, Artist and Author of The Grapes Grow Sweet
• 1998

  Wines & Vines magazine, Philip E. Hiaring, Editor/Publisher
• 1997

  Wine Enthusiast magazine, William R. Tisherman (Tish), Executive Editor and Vice President
• 1996

  R. Curtis Ellison, M.D., Chief, Section of Preventative Medicine & Epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine
• 1995

  Jim Trezise, President, New York Wine & Grape Foundation
• 1994

  K. Dun Gifford, President, Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, Boston, Massachusetts
• 1993

  Ben Giliberti, Wine Writer, The Washington Post
• 1992

  Professor Garth A. Cahoon, Ohio
• 1991

  Dr. Professor Carl W. Haesler, Pennsylvania’s distinguished viticultural scientist
• 1990

  Dr. David V. Peterson, Viticulturist, S.W. Missouri State University and Cornell University, Penn Yan, New York
• 1989

  Dr. Robert G. Rizza of Kansas
• 1988

  Florida Agricultural Extension
• 1987

  Minnesota Grape Growers Association
• 1986

  Wine East Magazine, Hudson Cattell, Editor
• 1985

  Long Island Grape Growers Association
• 1984

  The Georgia Grape Growers Association
• 1983

  Mississippi Food and Enology Laboratory
• 1982

  Tennessee Viticulture and Oenological Society
• 1981

  Mrs. Thomas F. Furness, Proprietor, Piedmont Vineyards, who pioneered commercial Vinifera plantings in Virginia
• 1980

  Dr. Konstantin Frank (first awarding of the Monteith Trophy)