Amateur wine competition

Bob Bowles, (one of our members) is the creator of the Asheville Wine and Food Festival.  This year the AWFF is sponsoring the first of what is hoped will be an annual amateur wine competition.

Here are the rules:

2012 Asheville Wine & Food Festival

Amateur Wine Competition

Awards:1st, 2nd, 3rd Place ribbons and special Publicity/ Recognition

ENTRIES CLOSE Saturday, August 11th 2012

Chief Wine Judge – John Kinnaird

JUDGES: judges to be provided by members of the French Broad Vignerons

INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

Entry Forms must accompany wines and be received by Saturday, August 11th 2012. Wines to be submitted for judging may only be received at one of the following locations:

Weinhaus www.weinhaus.com

Asheville Wine Studio www.winestudioasheville.com

Maggie B's www.maggiebswine.com/

Asheville Brewers Supply www.ashevillebrewers.com

Hops & Vine www.hopsandvines.net

Or you may Ship wine, entry forms to:

Asheville Wine & Food Festival

ATTN: Wine Competition

1679 Barnardsville Hwy, Barnardsville NC 28709

Phone: 828-777-8916

Judging will be performed during the week leading up to the day of the Festival with the last tasting panel possibly to take place on the day of the Festival on location at the US Cellular Center in Asheville so the public may observe how wine judging is performed by our trained Consumer Wine Tasting panels.

Winners will be announced/posted at the Festival on Saturday August 25th, 2012

AMATEUR WINE COMPETITION RULES

1. Amateur wine entries must be submitted on separate entry forms for each wine class – i.e., 3 dry reds on one from. The winemaker must be the producer of the wine.

2. Varieties of grapes/fruits, and residual sugar must be entered in percentages on the entry forms if known.

3. Only amateur winemakers from North Carolina and bordering states are eligible to enter their wines in the AWFF 2012 Amateur Wine Competition.

4. Entrants must submit one (1) 750 mL bottle of each entry (Liqueurs/fortified wines may be submitted in 375 mL bottles). All bottles must corked or capped bottles. Entry forms must accompany entries at submission.

5. Each bottle MUST have the following information:

a) Name of the wine

b) Name of winemaker

c) Names of grapes/fruits used to make wine

d) Vintage date (when the wine was made)

e) Class Category (Dry red, sweet white, etc.)

f) % Residual sugar if known

6. Label must be firmly attached to the bottle with a non-smear ink in case the label gets wet from condensation or spills.

7. Ribbons will be awarded to wines meriting 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. If no wines in a category merit 1st, 2nd or 3rd places, ribbons will not be awarded.

8. Amateur winemakers may submit as many wines as they wish in all categories.

9. Judges evaluate wine on appearance, aroma, taste, finish, and overall quality using a modified Davis Card wine evaluation form. Bottle shape and or color and label color design will not have any effect on judging.

10. Participants may visit www.AshevilleWineandFood.com after the festival to see winners. Winners will be announced/posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 at the festival and the following week on the website.

WINE JUDGING TO BE PERFORMED BY A CONSUMER PANEL

A three to six-member panel of judges will judge the wines. The wine tasting judges will be provided by the French Broad Vignerons (FBV). The FBV is an organization of grape growers, home winemakers, and wine consumers who have been formally trained in evaluating wines using the modified Davis Card wine evaluation form. They represent totally independent and impartial wine consumers. Wines will be judged blind. Judges will not see the wine bottle, nor will they receive any indication of which exhibitor entered the wine.

AMATEUR WINE COMPETITION CLASS CATEGORIES

DR - Dry red (may be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes & fruit)

DW - Dry white (may be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes & fruit)

SR - Sweet red (may be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes & fruit)

SW - Sweet white (may be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes & fruit)

MS – Muscadine/Scuppernong (pure varietal or blend)

DP- Dessert wines (Residual sugar higher than 3%) and fortified grape wines

LQ – Liqueur (Any fruit/nut/vegetable or combination)

SP - Sparkling wine (Any non-still wine)

FW - Fruit wine (any fruits or combination not including grapes)

HM – Mead (any honey based wine)
I want to encourage all the FBV members who have made wine of any description to enter the contest.  Its free and you will get objective evaluation and who knows, perhaps a ribbon and some notoriety.