Let’s Give a Big Round of Applause to the Winner of This Year’s Build a Better Burger® Recipe Contest!

We have just awarded this year’s grand prize winner $25,000! Meet Sarah Ralston with the Via Napoli Burger, paired with Sutter Home Red Blend. Chef’s hat off to you, Sarah. Your burger was truly one of a kind!

When we asked Sarah how it felt to be the winner, she said, “it’s like living in a dream, it feels fake, it doesn’t feel real!”

Like every year, we are also excited by what inspires our contestants to create their homemade burger recipe and wine pairing. So, when we asked Sarah what inspired the Via Napoli Burger, she said, “My award-winning burger recipe was inspired by my most recent trip to Italy with my family. We got to go to Naples, where our cruise ship docked, where I was inspired by all the beautiful huge lemons, the prosciutto that was hanging in the windows, and the tomatoes on the vines. All those fresh flavors from my trip inspired my burger!”

Then, we asked Sarah how she decided what Sutter Home wine was the perfect pairing for her burger. She said, “Personally, my all-time favorite Sutter Home wine is the Red Blend so I knew that it would pair perfectly with that Italian flavor. I wanted to stick with my favorite and knew that it would pair perfectly so I just went with it!”

We had one last question for our newest Build a Better Burger winner. What will you do with the $25,000? Sarah said,

“I am so excited because I am currently student teaching in a first-grade classroom and I’m graduating in May where I’ll be having my own Kindergarten classroom. I plan to use the money to buy books for my students, to buy a beautiful carpet I found online, and just make it the most welcoming space possible!”

Well, Sarah, the Sutter Home team is honored to help you chase your dreams as a teacher! Thank you so much for participating in the 2022 Sutter Home Build a Better Burger® Contest and we can’t wait to see what you’ll cook up next.

Cheers!