List of some major Wine Competitions in USA
Sommeliers Choice Awards
Sommeliers Choice Awards aims to provide on-premise buyers and sommeliers a valuable benchmark for understanding which wines would make a compelling addition to a wine list. The judging panel of the Sommeliers Choice Awards will consist entirely of top sommeliers, on-premise wine buyers and wine directors at U.S. restaurants, bars, pubs, and clubs. Medals will be awarded to those wines that meet very specific judging criteria, with a goal of identifying wines that should become additions to restaurant wine lists. Wines will be judged on the key factors like: Food Parability, Typicity Score, Quality, Value and Package.
SCA will take place in San Francisco on May 18, 2020.
Website: https://sommelierschoiceawards.com/en/
Los Angeles International Wine Competition
Seven decades of tradition began shortly after the end of prohibition, when the annual L.A. County Fair began awarding medals to the finest wines in California. The competition achieved world-class status, attracting wines from North and South America and finally in 2002, opening the doors to wine entries from around the world. Today, the event includes spirits and extra virgin olive oils. The judging panel has grown to nearly 100 judges from all parts of the globe.
The competition is the foundation for an extensive wine education program available to the nearly 1.5 million visitors to the L.A. County Fair. Public wine tasting began in 1968; in 1998 a wine education center opened, complete with consumer-driven classes, tastings and a display of the award-winning wines. The Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition is committed to educating the public about wine, featuring industry experts with extensive knowledge about wine growing and selection, wine tasting and wine and food pairings. The 2013 wine competition will be: May 15-16, 2013.
Website: https://fairplex.com/competitions/wine-competition
USA Wine Ratings
In USA Wine Ratings, Wines are judged by three factors, Quality, Value and Packaging. USA Wine Ratings looks to set a new benchmark for awars-winning wines by assessing them for their quality, their value for their money and what they look like with their packaging. All wines will be tasted blind to assess their quality and drinkability for consumers in their target area. Then, wines will be assessed to check how much value for money they are offering. And finally, wines will be assessed to see how well suited their packaging is to their targeted consumer group.
USA Wine Ratings 2020 will be on 27 July.
Website: http://www.usawineratings.com/
San Francisco International Wine Competition
The San Francisco International Wine Competition, the largest, most influential international wine competition in America, is judged by a prestigious panel of nationally recognized wine experts. Judging is based on a blind, consensual procedure, ensuring competitive integrity as it remains the nation's most respected wine competition. Celebrating its 33rd year in 2013, the Competition is held annually in mid-June. Results are found here as well as entry forms which are posted in April.
Website: http://www.sfwinecomp.com
Mid-American Wine Competition
The competition is open only to commercial wineries of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
This competition gives wineries the opportunity to have their wines judged against carefully selected food-friendly dishes. This is the first competition in the United States to offer this format.
“Typically wine competitions judge wines only against other wines, and typically the biggest wine wins. But wine is supposed to be consumed with food. So we are going to judge these wines in a setting more conducive to wines of balance, and by judging the wines in a setting more receptive to wines of balance, and by judging the wine with food, we think we will see a different outcome than the usual ‘bigger is better’ response,” noted Chief Judge Doug Frost.
Website: http://www.midamericanwine.org
The New York International Wine Competition
The New York International Wine Competition is the first major international wine competition with TRADE ONLY judges from top to bottom that consist of people who are buyers from the top retail stores, restaurant owners, sommeliers, hotel beverage directors, distributors and importers. Unlike other competitions, these judges have purchasing power and the ability to make a direct impact on brand sales.
In our 3rd year we have become one of the most respected international wine competition in the world because our judges are real trade buyers judging the wine by its category and actual price. We call it the “Real World”. As the saying goes….If you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere!
North Coast Wine Challenge
The Press Democrat and Vineyard & Winery Management have teamed up to create The Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge, which will allow entries from wineries that source fruit from the North Coast, including the American Viticultural Areas spanning Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties, and parts of Marin and Solano counties.
The regional focus of the new competition emphasizes its similarity to the Chronicle's, which grew out of the "tri-county" wine tasting competition at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair - Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.
Two long-time Healdsburg wine consultants have come on board, including Australian-turned Sonoma winemaker Daryl Groom to recruit a panel of judges.
Lone Star International Wine Competition
The Lone Star Wine Competition, as it had been known from its inception in 1984, was limited to Texas Wines and Texas Wineries. In 2001 the Board of Directors of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association (TWGGA) made the decision to expand the competition internationally. The first U.S. region included in this expansion extended from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. It was important for the Great Plains to be the first region in this expansion, since Texas is very much a part of the Great Plains. We included Canada and Mexico in the spirit of the Free Trade Agreement; and Austria as a courtesy to the Grapevine, Texas sister city of Krems, Austria. For the 2002 Competition, the committee decided to expand to the remaining wine states, except the largest producers New York, Oregon, Washington, and California. In 2004 we continued to expand including all international and national commercial wineries. Since 2004, with the LSIWC new commitments embracing and welcoming its national and international neighbors and friends, we’ve tripled the number of entries.
Website: http://www.txwines.org
The International Eastern Wine Competition (IEWC)
IEWC is one of the oldest and largest professional wine competitions in the United States. Entries are available to wineries produced in the Eastern and Midwestern regions of the United States and eastern Canada, making a truly regional affair. IEWC is judged by knowledgeable wine professionals and media from the east, Midwest and beyond. This event includes the Riesling Championship, which honors the best Riesling of the competition.
Amateur Wine Competition
The very first Maryland Wine Festival was held at the Shriver Homestead in Union Mills, in September, 1984. It was the brainchild of John Barker, then director of tourism in Carroll County. How he conceived the idea is unknown, and the first we heard about it was in the early spring, when he called the local chapter of the American Wine Society and asked for help in planning the thing.
The details are vague now, 20-some years later. The basic Festival was pretty much the same then as it is now, but on a much smaller scale, and was held for only one day. The Wine Education Seminars, managed by a few stalwart compadres, were part of the original program. There was an amateur wine adjudication, but it was an impromptu affair. Folks brought in their homemade wines and asked for comments on them. No one had planned for this. The idea for a wine-making demonstration had not yet germinated.
Website:http://www.marylandwine.org
Riverside International Wine Competition
For 30 years, the Riverside International Wine Competition has provided consumers and the wine industry with carefully considered results of a blind tasting by professional wine evaluators. A key benefit of this event is to recognize wines in a wide variety of styles, including wine regions that don’t often get such recognition.
Website: http://www.riversidewinecompetition.com
El Dorado County Fair Wine Competition
The first recorded Fair in El Dorado County was held in 1859 in Coloma. Until 1939, the Fair was held at various locations including Coloma, Diamond Springs, and downtown Placerville.
The Fairs of 1859, 1860, and 1864 were held in Coloma. Two other towns where the Fair was held in the early years were Placerville and Diamond Springs. The downtown areas of these small towns were transformed into the fairgrounds each time the County Fair was held.
With no permanent facilities to call its own until 1939, the County Fair annually used whatever facilities it could glean to hold the event. In those early days, the entire town where the Fair was held became the Fairgrounds. When in Placerville, some venues included the Confidence Hall, Sigwart’s Opera House, the Central House Hotel and Ballroom, and the Stockyards.
The first County Fair at the current site on Placerville Dr. (old Hwy 50) was held in 1939 conducted by the American Legion under a contract with El Dorado County. The American Legion conducted the County Fairs until 1952 when the current Fair Association was formed. World War II caused the Fair to become dormant from 1942 until 1947 when the American Legion reactivated the event.
Website: http://eldoradocountyfair.org
New World International Wine Competition
NWIWC has consistently been named as one of the top competitions for over 15 years. It is the only competition in America, and perhaps the world to pit the best wines from each price class against each other to determine an overall best of variety or type.
Website: http://www.nwiwc.com
Mid-Atlantic Southeastern Wine Competition
The Mid-Atlantic Southeastern Wine Competition began in 1995 and is open to any commercial vineyard, winery or amateur winemaker in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. Now in its 14thyear, the competition continues to increase in popularity as the wine industry in the Southeastern United States grows. In the past five years, the number of competitive entries has grown by more than 150 percent, with over 500 wines submitted for consideration in 2012.
“The wine industry in the Southern U.S. has enjoyed explosive growth over the past 20 years,” said Jim Collins, Wine Superintendent and coordinator of the Fair’s Wine Competition. “Looking across the region, there are a number of talented winemakers who are producing terrific vintages. The Dixie Classic Fair is proud to support and promote wineries in the region through the Mid-Atlantic Southeastern Wine Competition, and we look forward to another successful competition in 2013.”
Website: http://www.dcfair.com
Disclaimer: Please note that the competitions listed on this page are not related to or are directly or indirectly involved with the Beverage Trade Network. BTN has listed the competition as a reference purpose only.