Home Wine Competition Entry Tips

For winemakers, wine competitions are a great way to see how our wines are viewed by our peers. For me, there are three reasons to enter them. First, I want to see if others like my wines as much as I do. Another is for the “bragging rights” of winning an award. The third is to get feedback from judges, even if I think the wine might not be my best.

No matter the reason for entering a competition, you want to give your wines their best chance to show well.  The entry deadline for the OC Fair Home Wine Competition is still about eight weeks away. If you plan to submit wines, there are some things you can do to make sure they are judged in the best light.

In addition to the tips below, remember, don’t drink during bottling. It’s too easy to forget about proper sanitation practices with a foggy mind. I celebrate with a cold beer after bottling.

Resist the urge to submit anything that has just been bottled. Bottle shock is a real phenomenon. I’ve found my wines need at least 30 days to recover after bottling.

I know a lot of this isn’t rocket science. But by putting the care into your wine and the entry process beforehand, you can help your wines to show their best on competition day.

Tasting

If you haven’t bottled the wine yet, make sure you’re using sound winemaking practices. This means tasting regularly, topping off carboys and maintaining SO2 to prevent oxidation and spoilage. Oxidized wine is a common wine fault and it can happen to any wine. I recently tasted a commercial wine that suffered from oxidation right out of the bottle.

Bottling

When it comes to bottling, make sure that’s the only thing you’re doing on bottling day. Make any chemical additions or adjustments at least a week prior to bottling. This will allow enough time for those changes to integrate into the wine. If you’re making a blend, your blending components and their percentages should already be determined. You don’t want to be figuring out your blend and tasting on the day you’re performing a critical part of your winemaking process. As tempting as it is, don’t drink during bottling. It’s too easy to forget about proper sanitation practices with a foggy mind. I celebrate with a cold beer after bottling.

Resist the urge to submit anything that has just been bottled. Bottle shock is a real phenomenon. I’ve found my wines need at least 30 days to recover after bottling.

Don’t skimp on packaging if you’re shipping your wine to the competition. You want your wine to get here safely after all your effort. Competition wines are stored in a temperature-controlled environment after they’re received so you don’t have to worry about exposure to extreme temperatures.

Labeling

If you’re entering the label competition, send an original label. It shows much better than a photocopy. Make sure the label is entered into its correct category. Sometimes labels have characteristics that might make it a worthy contender in several categories. For instance, it might be both humorous and viticultural. In this case, I recommend entering it into the category where you think it stands a better chance of making a good impression.

Finally, make sure you complete the entry form clearly and thoughtfully. Enter your wines into their correct categories. If you’re entering a specific varietal wine, say Zinfandel, make sure there is at least 75% of that varietal in the wine. Rose wines should be entered as such so they’re not judged against their red counterparts.

Specifying AVA

Specify the grape’s AVA, if applicable, and vintage in the entry form “description” section. If you’re entering a blend, be sure to specify the percentages of each blend component in the “description” section as well. Fruit wines should be entered into their appropriate category. Note the wine’s sweetness level and enter it into the appropriate category. All that information will be on the judges’ score sheets for their consideration.

Packaging

Don’t skimp on packaging if you’re shipping your wine to the competition. You want your wine to get here safely after all your effort. Competition wines are stored in a temperature-controlled environment after they’re received so you don’t have to worry about exposure to extreme temperatures.

Entering

Make sure you complete the entry form clearly and thoughtfully. Enter your wines into their correct categories. If you’re entering a specific varietal wine, say Zinfandel, make sure there is at least 75% of that varietal in the wine. Rose wines should be entered as such so they’re not judged against their red counterparts

Feel free to contact me if you want to get involved in running the competition. I also will be happy to answer your questions about volunteering for the event or entering your wines. I am entering a few of my wines too (fingers crossed).

– Ed Reyes, Ed@ocws.org