Entering wine competitions is a great way to gain valuable feedback, from professional wine judges, on our wines. Winning ribbons and medals also provides important validation and recognition of the top quality wines that are being made in the Lamorinda AVA – plus they look great on a wall or in your wine cellar. Wine competitions are easy to enter and for most competitions, your wines can be dropped off at local winemaking stores, such as MoreWine in Concord. Please save the following information and the Board encourages all members to enter your wines.
WINE JUDGING INFORMATION FOR LAMORINDA AVA MEMBERS
By: David Hicks Winemaker and Grower
Introduction:
Wine competitions can provide valuable recognition for the quality of your wines, and valuable feedback to assist with future winemaking. The ribbons or medals you can win are a great way to showcase your achievements, and for commercial wines, to also help with marketing and sales.
Wine Competitions and Methodology:
For home winemakers, Lamorinda Winegrowers Association recommends the following two major wine comps:
- The California State Fair in Sacramento: entries due May 6: https://www.castatefair.org/california-home-wine/
- The Orange County Fair in So. Cal. Entries due May 28: https://ocws.org/home-wine-competition/
For commercial winemakers, LWGA recommends entering the following three competitions:
- The California State Fair in Sacramento: entries due May 22: https://www.castatefair.org/california-commercial-wine/
- The Orange County Fair in So. Cal: entries due May 10: https://ocws.org/commercial-wine-competition/
- The SF Chronicle Wine Competition: entries due November 15: https://winejudging.com/
These competitions have both a professional and amateur competitions. Wines are submitted by home winemakers or wineries individually. Clubs cannot submit. They are taken in by one group who places them in unmarked numbered brown paper bags and categorized by grape type and are numbered without regard to year. They are then presented to judging panels of 3 to 4 judges who are made up of a wide variety of people from all aspects of the wine industry. After judging the results are submitted to a final group who compiles the results and published the scores. These comps have thousands of entries each year and they are truly impartial.
Scoring:
The most common scoring used is a variation on the UC Davis 20 point System; 17 to 20 being Double Gold and Gold, and on down. You can find this scoring online. Awards are ribbons starting with DG on down to Honorable Mention. Most comps have a Best of Show in Red, White, Desert, and Sparkling and the awards are plaques. Followed by Best of Class, Gold, etc. for each varietal of wine.
How and Where to Enter:
For non pro winemakers the local home wine shops in our area will receive and hold your wines for pick up by the competition for bulk shipping. Local shops include: More Wine, Oak Barrel and Napa Fermentation. For some competitions there may be other drop off locations, so use the competition website to determine where and how to drop off your wines. Using these shops you avoid the major cost of shipping yourself which if you use UPS or Fed Ex can be expensive. If you decide to enter other comps and have to ship direct you can often ship wines by claiming they are shipping homemade vinegar or honey. That is your call. We suggest you contact a local shop well before the deadline for submission to the competition, so you can learn their cutoff date and other requirements.
Wining ribbons is comps is the best way for our AVA to make a name for itself and I strongly urge our members to start entering.
