An AWS amateur wine competition has been an integral part of the National Conference for almost as long as the Society has existed.

In the late 1960s, the Society’s founders addressed home winemakers' interests in the organization’s first "Constitution.” The founders stated that the purpose of AWS shall be "to foster the production of wine by home winemakers and to provide means for such amateurs to meet to exchange information and experience, and to compare and judge their products”.

A competition evolved as an opportunity for AWS home winemakers to showcase their creations and have them judged by their peers. Today the competition requires year-long preparation, dedicated volunteers, and a refined system of computers and human resources to handle operational details. To cover the costs of the program, participating winemakers are charged an entry fee.

All wines entered in the Amateur Competition are evaluated, blind and by consensus, by the same top-rated professional judges overseeing the Commercial Wine Competition. These judges are chosen from a broad range of industry experts and include those trained and certified by the American Wine Society, many who are current or former home winemakers.

Judges use the same guidelines and evaluation techniques that are applied to the Commercial Wine Competition with one important difference: the score sheets and critique comments are returned to the amateur winemakers. These written comment sheets are often more valuable to the amateur winemaker than winning an award, as they can include suggestions on how to make improvements or enhance the characteristics of the wines. This very useful service making the AWS Amateur Competition an instructive tool as well as an awards program. In addition, the Society provides a database for home winemakers, tracking progress from year to year.

For further information: Amateur wine competition