From April 13 to 15, 2018, a total of 2,299 different wines were judged at the Grand Summit Lodge and Conference Center at Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vermont. This year’s competition was again the largest wine competition of its kind in the world. The 2,299 entries arrived from hobby winemakers living throughout North America in 48 American states and 5 Canadian provinces and as far away as the Philippines and Turkey. It continues to be the single largest and most diverse collection of hobby wines assembled annually under one roof. Over the course of three days, experienced judging panels worked through 463 flights, examining each wine using the UC-Davis 20-point wine scale evaluating appearance, aroma, taste, aftertaste, and overall impression. The wines were entered in 50 different categories and included an astonishing array of varietals and wine styles. Kit wines competed alongside fresh-grape entries in this blind tasting. Entries were awarded gold, silver, bronze and best of show medals based on the average score given by the judging panel. The Gene Spaziani Grand Champion Wine award was the top overall scoring wine across all categories. The Club of the Year was given to the club whose members won the most medals and the Retailer of the Year and U-Vint of the Year awards were given to the winemaking supply stores whose customers outperformed other similar shops. Finally, the Winemaker of the Year award was given to the individual entrant who has the highest average score across their top 5 scoring wines in the competition.
Congratulations to everyone who won a medal, and a sincere thanks to our sponsors, Competition Director Ric Quental, Events Manager Jannell Kristiansen, our judges, competition volunteers, and of course everyone who took time to enter. We are already busy planning for the 2019 edition of this competition so get your wines ready for the March 15, 2019 entry deadline! Cheers and thanks for entering your wines!
For a full list of all our 2018 medal winners please visit winemakercompetition.com
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Most winemakers begin by wanting to make an affordable wine through their own efforts. Once they succeed, they focus more on perfecting the finished product. Their next question becomes, “Am I making really good wine? Or lousy wine that I like but no one else would?” It is at this point that we join clubs and discuss our wines and techniques. But the same question crops up in modified form: “Are we…
