Important Wine Competitions in the USA

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This article presents a comprehensive list of important wine competitions in the USA.

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Wine competitions are an important indicator of the quality of a wine. Wine tasting events are equally significant but competitions provide deeper comparisons and insights.

We have catalogued here some of the important wine competitions in the USA that you should note down in your diary.

California State Fair

The California State Fair is held annually in the capital, Sacramento. This wine competition recognizes wines of California by region and style. This competition entices around 2,500 entries from 700 wineries from the state. The competition usually takes place in July every year where all wines are tasted blind by the judges. The judges' list at California State Fair comprises of winemakers, wine educators, wine merchants and wine writers. In order to be selected as a judge in California State Fair, these people are required to pass a review test. According to judges’ scores and reviews, the best wines are picked out from each variety and style. They’re given gold, silver and bronze medals according to the scoring system of the competition. This is a commercial wine competition focused on single-vineyard wines.

Date: July 23-29, 2018

USA Wine Ratings

USA Wine Ratings is built to recognize, reward and promote the wine brands successfully created for a specific wine drinker. This competition singles out and shines upon the wine brands that consumers actually want to buy. This wine competition judges the wines in three key areas, quality, design and value for the price. To be a winner in USA Wine Ratings, a wine must, 1. Be a top quality wine, 2. Offer great value for its price, 3. Look good and stand out on the shelf. The judges at the competition are a leading panel of top-level wine buyers with commercial buying responsibilities. They are the ones from retail chains, wholesalers, distributors and on-trade groups across various channels.

Date: July 22, 2019

Central Coast Wine Competition

The Central Coast Wine Competition opens the doors to all wines from Central Coast of California every year. This wine competition is focused on promoting diversity and competition among wineries of Central Coast. The competition takes place in July, in Paso Robles, which is a large winegrowing area in the southern end of California’s Central Coast region. The judges’ panel at this competition includes wine writers, winemakers and sommeliers. Based on the merits decided by judges, wines are given gold, silver and bronze medals. All the winning wines are presented at the California Mid-State Fair, Grand National in San Francisco, Contra Costa County Fair, Monterey County Fair and Santa Barbara County Fair. This is the largest competition organized to recognize wines only from the Central Coast.

Date: June 20-21, 2018

Critics Challenge Wine Competition

The Critics Challenge Wine Competition, held annually in May in San Diego, is an international wine competition. This competition aims at balancing out the ‘Americanized’ palate residing in other USA-based wines. The chief judges of the competition are usually Robert Whitely, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, America’s First Female MW and NY’s International Wine Center. They are accompanied by a panel of experienced wine judges mostly from the USA. This competition is open to all commercially produced wines. The Wines entered into the competition are sorted into more than 250 categories. The Critics Challenge Wine Competition takes place few weeks after the San Diego International Wine Competition.

Date: May 26-27, 2018

Dan Berger's International Wine Competition

Dan Berger's International Wine Competition is a wine and cider competition held in Santa Rosa, California. It was founded by a wine director Dan Berger. Dan Berger used to run the Los Angeles Times wine column until 1996. This competition came into existence in 2016. Like all other wine competitions, blind tasting is used to determine the quality and value of the wine. The entries are organized as per the grape variety and provenance. The competition is open to all wines from around the world. Tasting principles at the DBIWC are inspired by Professor Maynard Amerine. DBIWC is open to all wines from around the world, but as the show is in California, the competition is dominated by North American entrants. Apart from the gold, silver and bronze medals, competition also awards ‘Best of Show’ and ‘Best of Class’ as well as separate trophies for Riesling categorized by sweetness levels.

Date: Over for 2018

Denver International Wine Competition

Denver International Wine Competition is held annually in Denver, Colorado to showcase wines from around the world. The competition, established in 2005, has grown to become one of the largest wine competitions of its kind in the state. It attracts around 800 entries from the wineries around the world. Entered wines are grouped together in 4 price categories according to style and grape variety. The judges at the DIWC who blind taste all wines are Colorado-based sommeliers, wine merchants, wine educators and journalists. Apart from gold, silver and bronze medals, top red and white wines are titled Best in Show Wines. Winning wineries in the competition are featured to the Denver International Wine Festival held annually in November.

Date: June 23-24, 2018

So, these were some of the top wine competitions held in the USA every year. Keep an eye on this page as we often update our pages with newer information.