From April 12 to 14, 2019, a total of 2,305 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 2,305 entries arrived from hobby winemakers living throughout North America in all 50 American states and 5 Canadian provinces and as far away as Australia. 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 464 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 2020 edition of this competition so get your wines ready for the Tuesday, March 17, 2020 entry deadline! Cheers and thanks for entering your wines!
For a list of all 2019 medal winners visit: winemakermag.com/competition
Your friends and family think your homemade wines are the best, but are they right? The best way to find out is to enter your wine in a competition. Wine competitions can also be a good way to gain feedback on wines that you may think are flawed, but you’re not sure what went wrong. In this issue, three wine judges share their advice for avoiding common mistakes when entering competitions.
Winners from the 2002 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition
