What do vidal blanc from Virginia, albarino from California and shiraz from Australia all have in common? Well, they all recently garnered top awards at the 28th annual International Wine Competition in San Francisco where the city-by-the-bay played host for the contest, sponsored by Taste magazine.

Winemakers from around the globe — 23 states and 23 countries — submitted more than 4,200 wines from 1,205 wineries to be judged in several different categories, including best white wine, best red wine, best sparkling wine, best dessert wine and so on. The competition is the brainchild of legendary wine taster and magazine publisher Anthony Dias Blue. It was his vision and his goal to showcase wines that don’t often receive the same attention as, say, first-growth Bordeaux or California cult cabernets.