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A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges.
The common goal of all wine competitions is to obtain valid comparisons of wines by trained experts. Wine competitions can vary widely in their characteristics, and are sometimes geared toward a specific audience (i.e., consumers vs. industry professionals). One of the ways wine competitions can vary is how the wines are ranked. In most competitions, medals are given to individual wines in various categories on the basis of the blind tasting. The awards are frequently bronze, silver, gold, and double gold medals. In other competitions, ribbons of various colors are sometimes used. In these competitions, it is common for more than one wine to receive any given medal. These competitions often also include a "Best in Class" award, [1] producing a clear category winner among those vintages awarded any particular medal, as seen in the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, [2] the New York International Wine Competition, [3] and The Decanter World Wine Awards. [4] In still other competitions, instead of giving numerous awards, the wines in each wine category are ranked by number from high to low, a process known as ordinal ranking. In these competitions, there is only one first-place winner, one second place, one third place, and so on down to the lowest place. Medal rankings are different from the 100 point scales that are used by many journalistic publications, such as Wine Spectator. [5] These "scores" are obtained when wine journalists blind taste the wines and score them on an individual basis, as opposed to when the wines are being tasted side by side and competing against one another in a competition setting.
There are critics who argue that the results of such competitions may be misleading and should not be relied upon as a measure of quality. [6] Other commentators argue that, because of wine competitions, wine quality has improved in many countries around the world.
An "international" wine competition is a competition that accepts wines from all over the world. Competitions are generally held in one location and winemakers must ship their wines to the competition in order to be considered. There is generally an entry fee for winemakers to enter their wines into the competition. Below are some examples of top international wine competitions:
Some wine competitions only accept wines from a specific region or appellation. Sometimes this is because they are newer and don't have the resources to manage or hold a large number of entries from outside of their region, but most often it is because the organizers want to draw attention to their specific winemaking region. Some examples of local competitions are:
There have been numerous occasions when wine tastings had shocking results that influenced the wine industry as a whole. The most famous of these is the Judgment of Paris (wine).
Other examples:
A sommelier, or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the sommelier in fine dining today is much more specialized and informed than that of a wine waiter. Sommeliers Australia states that the role is strategically on par with that of the chef de cuisine.
Vana Tallinn is an Estonian brand of liqueur manufactured continuously by Liviko since 1960. The recipe contains Jamaican rum and a variety of herbs and spices.
The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant and his colleague, Patricia Gallagher, in which French judges carried out two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa, California. A Napa wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win.
Blinded wine tasting is wine tasting undertaken in circumstances in which the tasters are kept unaware of the wines' identities. The blind approach is routine for wine professionals who wish to ensure impartiality in the judgment of the quality of wine during wine competitions or in the evaluation of a sommelier for professional certification. More recently wine scientists have used blinded tastings to explore the objective parameters of the human olfactory system as they apply to the ability of wine drinkers to identify and characterize the extraordinary variety of compounds that contribute to a wine’s aroma. Similarly, economists testing hypotheses relating to the wine market have used the technique in their research. Some blinded trials among wine consumers have indicated that people can find nothing in a wine's aroma or taste to distinguish between ordinary and pricey brands. Academic research on blinded wine tastings have also cast doubt on the ability of professional tasters to judge wines consistently.
The Great Chardonnay Shootout, held in the spring of 1980, was organized by Craig Goldwyn, the wine columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the founder of the Beverage Testing Institute, with help from three Chicago wine stores. A total of 221 Chardonnays from around the world were selected for the blind wine competition. France and California were heavily represented, but entries from many countries around the world were included.
Dos Lunas is a line of 100% blue agave tequilas produced in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, by Dos Lunas Spirits, LLC, headquartered in El Paso, Texas. The brand has the first triple-distilled silver tequila, a month aged Reposado, 18 month aged Añejo and 10 year old Extra Añejo.
Armand de Brignac, known colloquially as Ace of Spades, is a French Champagne owned by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and LVMH. The brand is produced by Champagne Cattier and sold in opaque metallic bottles. The brand's first bottling, Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, is identifiable by its gold bottle with French pewter Ace of Spades labels.
The Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) is a marketing service company that provides reviews for spirits, wines, and beers. It uses numerical scores and publishes books of its test results.
The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by the competition are considered as high honors in the industry. The judging occurs annually, in London. Only brands that pay the entry fee are judged, and two or four bottles of each entry must be supplied, depending on the category entered.
Food or drink competitions reward products primarily for their "gustative worth" in the form of an award or a medal. These competitions can be classified into different categories, and most awards are product-specific, such as for wines, beers, and cheeses. Others focus on local, regional and/or national products. Finally, the international competitions test all kinds of foods and drinks available to consumers on a retail basis. Wine is probably the most tested drink, followed by beer and spirits.
Leopold Bros. is a family-owned and operated distillery located in Denver, Colorado. They are well known as an independent distillery that floor malts, mills, mashes, and ferments all the grains in their spirits, as well as distills, ages, and bottles their entire portfolio at their one and only distillery in northeast Denver. They currently have the largest traditional floor malting room of any distillery in the United States, where they malt Colorado barley onsite.
Will Lyons is a journalist, newspaper columnist, award-winning wine writer and broadcaster. He is most widely known for his writing in The Wall Street Journal and The Sunday Times.
Bong Spirit Vodka is a vodka brand, sold in a bottle shaped like a bong. It is made from European grain, distilled six times and filtered through four processes, using reverse osmosis and charcoal filtering. It is distributed in the United States by Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, and Republic National.
With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels and blind tastings within specific categories to provide opinions and ratings.
Unionville Vineyard is a winery in the Unionville section of East Amwell in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Originally part of the largest peach orchard in the United States, the vineyard was first planted in 1988, and opened to the public in 1993. Unionville has 41 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 4,500 cases of wine per year. The winery is named for a former village near where the farm is located.
The Los Angeles International Competitions event focuses on the wine, spirits, beer and olive oil industries. Distributors and makers in each industry submit entries to be judged by a panel of experts.
The China Wine and Spirits Awards wine and spirits competition is the biggest wine competition in Hong Kong and China.
Gruet Winery is a New Mexico winery and family business founded in 1984. It specializes in Methode Champenoise sparkling wines using Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, and also produces some still wine. It traces its history to Gilbert Gruet's Champagne house, Gruet e Fils, which he established in 1952 in Bethon, France. After a visit to New Mexico in 1983 and meeting with a group of European vinters who had successfully planted vineyards there, Natalie and Laurent Gruet planted an experimental vineyard of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Engle, New Mexico about 10 miles from Truth or Consequences. The first release was in 1989, principally sparkling wine. In 1993, Gruet opened its own winery and tasting room in Albuquerque.
Crafter's is a Nordic gin brand that includes classic London Dry Gin and Aromatic Flower Gin produced by Estonian distillery Liviko. Both gins are handcrafted in Estonia, copper-pot distilled and made in small batches. In 2018 Liviko exported Crafter's gin to 25 countries. The juniper berries used in the making of Crafter's gin are reused in the Re-crafted Crafter's handcrafted beverages, as the berries retain a valuable part of their flavour even after distillation. Liviko was nominated to World Beverage Innovation Award in 2019 for its zero-waste product innovation that lead to a new category of drinks.
Ultimate Beverage Challenge, established in 2009, conducts an annual spirit competition, Ultimate Spirits Challenge. The entries for this competition are submitted on a global basis.
