Not All Wine Competitions Are Created Equal

It’s no secret why winemakers enter competitions. Besides seeing how they match up with other wineries, the luxury of stamping a bottle with a gold medal or a 90+ score can catch a consumer’s eye and boost sales without having to say another word.

nullBut which competitions winemakers choose – and there are plenty available – is a different story. And because most people are savvy enough to know that an “outstanding” recommendation from Wine Press Northwest carries more weight than a best in show award from Podunk, USA, wineries need to be somewhat selective about when and where they enter competitions.

Wade Wolfe of Prosser, Washington’s Thurston Wolfe Winery uses a set of criteria that I think many winemakers follow. He first anticipates how well his wine will fit into each event’s categories, avoiding those that lump a wide variety of styles into one where the competition is uneven and meaningless. He also looks at the region where the event is held, making sure it’s in a market where his wines can be distributed.

Also a factor is the evaluation technique and the number of judges. Wolfe notes that for some events, “…there is a single reviewer and the wines are not tasted blind. (We’re) less likely to submit to these because of the potential biases of the reviewer.”

Many events now post the backgrounds of judges in addition to their award winners on the web. This can give you a feel for the types of wines entered in the competition as well as possible preferences in the judges’ tastes.

The bottom line is that all levels of recognition are not created equal. So do a little research and be discriminating when you purchase that next bottle of award-winning wine.

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