What you won’t see is a volunteer form to judge.  Judging is not a position that just anyone can sign up for.  People are asked and selected to serve as judges for the Home Wine Competition.  Being a wine judge takes wine knowledge and training.

Think about it.  A judge needs to be impartial.  Personal preferences, likes and dislikes, they don’t matter.  Say a judge prefers to drink a big, jammy fruit-forward, high alcohol style of Zinfandel.  But as a judge, that person can’t give a high score to a Zin made in that big style simply because of personal preference.  Conversely, that person couldn’t give a low score to a lighter and more nuanced Zinfandel just because they don’t prefer that style.

A wine judge evaluates how well-crafted a wine is.  A wine judge looks for wine faults, negative characteristics that make wine less pleasurable to drink.  Wine judges are trained to recognize faults.  They are trained to evaluate wine based on how well-crafted a wine is instead of personal likes and dislikes.

If you’ve ever wanted to judge wine, the good news for OCWS members is that the average member knows a lot about wine, very likely more than the average Joe on the street.  I’d also say the average OCWS member knows more about wine than they give themselves credit for.  What’s needed is the training to be able to evaluate wine impartially.

So how does someone get that training?  Every year, the Winemakers Group conducts a judging seminar to train new judges prior to the Home Wine Competition.  The seminar also serves as a refresher course for experienced judges.

The seminar teaches how to evaluate wine impartially.  It trains judges how to score wines in a competition based on common characteristics such as color, smell, taste, balance, finish and a few others.  It also teaches about common wine faults, what causes them, and how to recognize them in wines.

Many OCWS members are knowledgeable about wine and well-suited to be judges.  You may already be judging and evaluating wines every time you drink them and just might not be aware of it.  All that’s needed is the proper training and skills.  If you’ve ever taken Don Mayer’s “Wine Defects Workshop”, offered right after the Commercial Competition, then you’re on your way to being a judge.

We are always looking for new competition judges.  If the idea of being a wine judge appeals to you then we’d like to talk to you.  Contact our Judging Chairman, John Lane john@ocws.org to see if you’re a candidate to judge.

You don’t have to be a winemaker to judge at the Home Wine Competition.  In the training class, you will learn about the winemaking process and gain a greater appreciation of wine and the skills that go into making it.

New judges must take the training to judge at the Home Wine Competition.  The training is free and refreshments will be served.  It’s not difficult and it provides the necessary skills to be a competition wine judge.  If you’re selected to judge, the seminar date, time and location will be provided.

Cheers!

Ed Reyes
ed@ocws.org

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