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Deadline: April 15! Enter the 2005 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition Feb, 2005
 
Enter your wine in North America's largest competition for hobby winemakers. The best homemade wines from across North America and around the world will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in 50 categories awarded by a panel of experienced wine judges. Last year we had entries from 41 American states, 7 Canadian provinces and 4 countries. Enter your wines and compete against the continent's best home winemakers! You can gain international recognition for your winemaking skills and get valuable feedback on your wines from the competition's judging panel. Deadline is April 15, 2005.
 
Entry Deadline: April 15, 2005

A rundown of categories and rules can be found below.



To download an entry form, click here.



Categories:
Special Best of Show Medals will be awarded thanks to the following sponsors:

Grand Champion


Best of Show Red


Best of Show White


Best of Show Country Fruit


Best of Show Kit/Concentrate


Best of Show Dessert


Best of Show Sparkling


Best of Show Mead


WineMaker of the Year


Retailer of the Year


Club of the Year


Category Medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) will be awarded thanks to the following sponsors in 50 categories:

1. White Native American Varietal (Logic, Inc.)
2. White Native American Blend
3. Red Native American Varietal (St. Louis Wine & Beermaking)
4. Red Native American Blend
5. Blush/Rosé Native American
6. Red or White Native American Late Harvest and Ice Wine
7. White French American Hybrid Varietal
8. White French American Hybrid Blend
9. Red French American Hybrid Varietal (Double A Vineyards)
10. Red French American Hybrid Blend
11. Blush/Rosé French American Hybrid
12. Red or White French American Late Harvest and Ice Wine
13. Chardonnay (Beer & Wine Makers Warehouse)
14. Chenin Blanc
15. Gewürztraminer (Fine Vine Wines)
16. Riesling (grapestompers.com)
17. Sauvignon Blanc
18. Other White Vinifera Varietals
19. White Vinifera Bordeaux Style Blends(Mountainhomebrew.com)
20. Other White Vinifera Blends
21. Cabernet Franc (Red Star Yeast)
22. Cabernet Sauvignon (Wine, Wine and More Wine)
23. Merlot (Grape & Granary)
24. Shiraz/Syrah (Bader Beer & Wine Supply)
25. Pinot Noir (Brew Your Own Brew)
26. Sangiovese
27. Zinfandel (Quality Wine and Ale Supply)
28. Other Red Vinifera Varietals
29. Red Vinifera Bordeaux Style Blends (Mountainhomebrew.com)
30. Other Red Vinifera Blends
31. Blush/Rosé Red Vinifera
32. Red or White Vinifera Late Harvest and Ice Wine (Keystonehomebrew.com)
33. White Table Wine Blend - Any Grape Varieties
34. Red Table Wine Blend - Any Grape Varieties (Red Star Yeast)
35. Blush Table Wine Blend - Any Grape Varieties
36. Grape & Non-Grape Table Wine Blend
37. Apple or Pear Varietals or Blends (Corvallis Brewing Supply)
38. Stone Fruit - Peach, Cherry, Blends, etc.
(Bet-Mar Liquid Hobby Shop)
39. Berry Fruit - Strawberry, Raspberry, Blends, etc. (Country Wines)
40. Other Fruits (Flyingbarrel.com)
41. Traditional Mead (Stomp Them Grapes)
42. Fruit Mead (The Purple Foot - Milwaukee)
43. Herb and Spice Mead
44. Flower or Vegetable
45. Port Style
46. Sherry Style
47. Other Fortified
48. Sparkling Grape, Dry/Semi-Dry
49. Sparkling Grape, Sweet
50. Sparkling Non-Grape


Rules & Regulations
1. Entry deadline is Friday, April 15, 2005.
Wines are to be delivered to:
Battenkill Communications
5053 Main St., Suite A
Manchester Center, VT 05255
Ph: (802) 362-3981

2. Send two (2) bottles per entry. Still wines must be submitted in standard 750 ml wine bottles. Ice wines or late harvest wines can be submitted in 375 ml bottles. Still meads can be submitted in 12 oz. or 22 oz. beer bottles. Sparkling wines must be in champagne bottles with proper closure and wire. All bottles must be free of wax, decorative labels and capsules. However, an identification label will be required on the bottle as detailed in rule #5. The second bottle is a back-up in case the first has spoiled, leaked or broken in transit.

3. Entry fee is $15 U.S. dollars (or $23 Canadian dollars) for each wine entered. Each individual person is allowed up to a total of 15 entries. You may enter in as many categories as you wish. Make checks payable to WineMaker. Only U.S. or Canadian funds will be accepted. On your check write the number of entries (no more than 15 total) and the name of the entrant if different from the name on the check. Entry fees are non-refundable.

4. All shipments should be packaged to withstand considerable handling and must be shipped freight pre-paid. Line the inside of the box with a plastic trash bag and use plenty of packaging material, such as bubble wrap, around the bottles. Bottles shipped in preformed styrofoam cartons have proven reliable in the past. Mark outside of the box with Test Samples. Every reasonable effort will be made to contact entrants whose bottles have broken to make arrangements for sending replacement bottles. It is not against any Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulations or federal laws to ship your entries via a privately owned shipping company such as UPS or FedEx Ground for analytical or test purposes. But it is illegal to ship alcoholic beverages via the U.S. Postal Service. Private shipping companies may refuse your shipment if they are informed your package contains alcoholic beverages. Entries mailed internationally are often required by customs to provide proper documentation. It is the entrant's responsibility to follow all applicable laws and regulations. Packages with postage due or C.O.D. charges will be rejected.

5. Each bottle must be labeled with the following information: Your name, category number, wine ingredients, vintage. Example: K. Jones, 9, 75% Baco Noir, 25% Foch, 1999. If you are using a wine kit for ingredients please list the brand and product name as the wine ingredients. Example: K. Jones, 22, Winexpert Selection International French Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003. A copy of the entry form, listing each of your wines entered, must accompany the two bottles and payment for that entry.

6. It is entirely up to you to decide which of the 50 categories you should enter. You should enter each wine in the category in which you feel it will perform best. Wines must contain a minimum of 75% of designated type if entered as a varietal. Varietals of less than 75% must be entered as blends. Judges will not classify or re-classify your entry.

7. Wine kits and concentrate-based wines will compete side-by-side with fresh fruit and juice-based wines in all listed categories.

8. The origin of many Native American grapes is unknown due to spontaneous cross-breeding. For the purposes of this competition, however, the Native American varietal category will include, but is not limited to, the following grape families: Aestivalis, Labrusca, Riparia and Rotundifolia (muscadine).

9. For sparkling wine categories, dry/semi-dry is defined as <3% residual sugar and sweet as >3% residual sugar.

10. Contest is open to any amateur home winemaker. Your wine must not have been made by a professional commercial winemaker or at any commercial winery. No employee of WineMaker magazine may enter. Persons under freelance contract with Battenkill Communications are eligible. Judges may not judge a category they have entered. Applicable entry fees and limitations shall apply.

11. All wines will be judged according to their relative merits within the category. Gold, silver and bronze medals within each category will be awarded on point totals and will not be restricted to the top three wines only (for example, a number of wines may earn enough points to win gold). The Best of Show awards will be those wines clearly superior within those stated categories. The Grand Champion award is given to the top overall wine in the entire competition.

12. The WineMaker of the Year award will be given to the individual whose top 5 scoring wine entries accumulate the greatest number of points during the 2005 competition based on the following scale:
Gold Medal (or any Best of Show medal): 3 points
Silver Medal: 2 points
Bronze Medal: 1 point
Any tie will be broken by the highest average judging score of the 5 wines. In a similar way, the Club of the Year and Retailer of the Year awards will be based on the same 3-2-1 point scale though not limited to the top 5 scoring wines. The amateur club that accumulates the most overall points from its members' wine entries will win Club of the Year. The home winemaking retail store that accumulates the most overall points from its customers' wine entries will win Retailer of the Year.

13. All entrants will receive a copy of the judging notes for their wines, along with a copy of the results.

14. All wine will become the property of WineMaker magazine and will not be released after the competition.

15. All decisions by competition organizers and judges are final.
 
 
Welcome to the online home of WineMaker -
the leading magazine for the home wine making hobby. Enjoy this selection of stories, tips, projects and recipes from the magazine as well as web-only features, all designed to help you make world-class wine at home. Please sign up for a FREE trial issue of the magazine if you like what you see.
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WineMaker Magazine
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