Fruithurst Winery walked away with a gold medal in their first international wine competition held last month in Rochester, N.Y.

The Finger Lakes International Wine Competition drew a record number of participants including Fruithurst Winery from Cleburne County.

They competed against 666 wineries representing 15 foreign countries and all 50 states.

Other well-known gold winners included E.J. Gallo Winery and the Biltmore Estate Wine Co.

Fruithurst Winery won their medal with their muscadine, Carlos variety.

Fifty-nine judges from around the world including Germany, U.S., Canada, Argentina, Italy, Australia, France, Israel, Spain and the U.K. conducted their blind testing with Riedel stemware.

Dylan Laminack, Fruithurst Winery co-owner with his cousin Joshua said Josh went behind his back and entered the contest. "I said 'no' because I figured the judges wouldn't like it. Then we received our winning notice on April Fools day and I thought it was a joke. I really didn't believe it until that gold medal showed up. It is really unbelievable that someone with less than a year of professional wine making could compete with the big guys," Dylan said.

But, he added laughing, ""Even a blind hog will find an acorn every now and then."