From April 24-26, 2026, a total of 1,043 different wines were judged at the Mount Snow Grand Summit Lodge in West Dover, Vermont.

This year marks the 23rd year of the event and it continues to be the largest wine competition for home winemakers in the world.  The 1,043 entries arrived from hobby winemakers living throughout North America in 40 American states and four Canadian provinces, as well as five different countries. It is the single largest and most diverse collection of hobby wines assembled annually under one roof.

Over the course of three days, experienced judging panels examined 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.

Click here to download a pdf of the winners.

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. Cheers to 23 years of the competition and thanks for entering your wines!