46th Annual US Amateur Wine Competition


You can read the official rules below.

To pay online, please CLICK HERE

To download a copy of the Entry Form, CLICK HERE.


OFFICIAL RULES FOR THE U.S. AMATEUR WINEMAKING COMPETITION

Entries must be received between October 1 and November 08, 2019.                                                                                           International entries may be received earlier.

  1. All entries must be in standard 750ml wine bottles. Dessert wine entries may be submitted in 375ml bottles. Cider can be submitted in 12oz(please supply 2 bottles) or 22oz beer bottles. No other exceptions.
  2. All bottles must be labeled with the following:

–          Name of winemaker

–          Class & Subclass, and Wine Variety

  1. Classify your wines correctly. Dry wines are typically 1% or less sugar.

Fortified wines greater than 16% alcohol belong in the dessert category.

Dessert wines can be sweet, but sweet wines are not necessarily dessertwines.

  1. Winners will be invited to present their wines to the Cellarmasters general membership at the “post-fest” Cellarmasters club meeting in January, 2020.
  2. Judge’s score sheets and comments will be returned to you after January 10, 2020
  3. Please read the competition rules carefully. If you need more information than provided herein, e-mail the Contest Chairperson at Winecomp@CellarmastersLA.org, or call the club at 818-923-1361.

 INTERNATIONAL ENTRANTS, PLEASE ALLOW ADEQUATE TIME FOR CUSTOMS CLEARANCE

COMPETITION RULES

1) This competition is open to persons 21 years of age or older from any nation.

2) Entries are limited to wines produced by amateur winemakers only. An amateur shall be considered as:

  • An adult not employed by a commercial winery in a winemaking capacity.
  • An adult who is not an owner of a commercial winery. This does not exclude people who own stock in a commercial winery, provided they are not involved in the winemaking process.

3) No wines may be produced with the help or facilities of a commercial winery (crushed grapes and unfermented juice from a commercial winery are OK).

4) All wines, entry forms, and fees must be received by the due date. All wines entered must be on the entry form, and all fees must accompany the entry forms. Wines become the property of Cellarmasters and none will be returned. Late entries will not be judged or returned.

5) Please ship all wines to:
The Home Wine, Beer, and Cheesemaking Shop
22836 Ventura Blvd #2
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
(818) 884-8586

6) Wines must be in standard 750 ml wine bottles. They must be clearly labeled with the winemaker’s name, wine class, subclass, and wine variety (grape varietal or wine description) exactly as it appears on the entry form. You may also include appellation and vintage. It is the entrant’s responsibility to select the proper category. The judging chairperson reserves the right to reclassify the wine.

7) The neck of the bottle must be free of labels, shrink-seals, wax, or any other identifying mark. The bottle may have an additional standard wine label as long as it is not significantly larger than a standard commercial wine bottle label and nothing appears on or near the neck.

8) Judging will be conducted on November 16, 2019 and the award winners will be posted on the Cellarmasters web site (http://www.cellarmastersLA.org) promptly. Awards and/or judging score sheets will be mailed in approximately eight weeks.

9) Award metals will be presented for gold, silver, and bronze wines based on the modified Davis 20 point system. Only one award will be given per entry, regardless of how many winemakers worked on the wine.

10)Competition fee is: $20 per bottle.  An “entry” is a single 750 ml. bottle of wine (or 12oz bottles of cider). You can pay via PayPal or make money order or check payable in U.S. Dollars to “Cellarmasters.”

11)Cellarmasters reserves the right to change terms & conditions at any time. While great care is exercised in the handling and storage of entries, Cellarmasters is not responsible for the safety of entries, including but not limited to shipment, fire, vandalism, and acts of God.

ENTRY CLASSIFICATIONS

Enter wines by: Class – Subclass – Wine Variety

 Example: “1 – d – Cabernet Sauvignon” OR “2 – b – Chardonnay”

 Note: Varietal Wine (wine made from a specific grape or fruit) should be 75% or more of the listed varietal.

Note: “Estate” wine must be 95% or more fruit grown on the same property.

 Class 1: DRY RED GRAPE – VINIFERA

 Subclass:

a – Blends

b – Barbera

c – Cabernet Franc

d – Cabernet Sauvignon

e – Carignane

f – Grenache

g – Malbec

h – Merlot

i – Mourvedre

j – Nebbiolo

k – Petite Sirah

l – Pinot Noir

m – Sangiovese/Brunello 

n – Syrah

o – Zinfandel

p – Other Varietal

q – Kits and concentrates

 

Class 2: DRY WHITE GRAPE – VINIFERA

 Subclass:

a – Blends

b – Chardonnay

c – Chenin Blanc 

d – Gewurtztraminer

e – Viognier

f – Muscat

g – Pinot Grigio

h – Reisling

i – Sauvignon Blanc

j – Other Varietal

k – Kits and concentrates

 

Class 3: DRY ROSÉ / BLUSH GRAPE – VINIFERA

 Subclass:

a – Varietal (please list)

b – Kits and concentrates

c – Other

 

Class 4: DRY OTHER

 Subclass:

a – Stone Fruit

b – Berry Fruit

c – Other

 Class 5: SWEET

 Subclass:

a – Vinifera Grape

b – Non-vinifera Grape

c – Stone Fruit

d – Berry Fruit

e – Fruit & Wine blends

f – Other

 Class 6: SPARKLING

 Subclass:

a – All Sparkling Wines

 Class 7: APÉRITIF and DESSERT

 Subclass:

a – Grape Wines

b – Other

 Class 8: DRY COUNTRY WINE & NON-VINIFERA GRAPE

 Subclass:

a – Red Native American Grapes (e.g. Concord, Norton), please list

b – Red French-American Hybrid Grapes (e.g. Chancellor, Chambourcin, Baco Noir), please list

c – White Native American Grapes (e.g. Scuppernong, Niagara), please list

d – White French-American Hybrid Grapes (e.g. Aurora, Baco, Seyval Blanc), please list

e – Rosé / blush Native American Grapes

f – Rosé / blush French-American Hybrid Grapes

 Class 9: HONEY

 Subclass:

a – Mead

b – Melomels, Pyment & Cyser

c – Other Honey-Based Wines

Class 10: CIDER

(please specify Apple, Pear, Quince or some combination of those.  Also, please state the sweetness level – Dry, Off-dry, semi sweet or sweet – as well as the carbonation level – still, pétillant, sparkling. This is so the same ciders are judged together)

Subclass:

a – Standard (straight up Pomme fruit only)

b – Specialty (please specify additional ingredients – hops, spices, additional fruits, etc.)

Class 11: UNIQUE

Subclass:

a – All not identified in any previous class or subclass

7 Responses to '46th Annual US Amateur Wine Competition'

  1. chuck says:

    any medals this year?

  2. Dion says:

    How many entries are typical per category (say 1-A-Blends)?

    • Gregg Ogorzelec says:

      Dion, it depends on the year. Blends are popular so we may get 15-20 Red blends. Some years we’ve had 20-30 Zins but some years we’ve had under 10. It’s hard to gauge year to year. Cabs are pretty consistently entered with at least 25-30 Cabs in my recollection. Does that answer you questions?

  3. Gordon Baron says:

    Are you having a wine label competition this year ?

    • Hi Gordon,
      We only have a label competition every three years so the next one won’t be until 2021. Hope to see an entry from you then!

    • Gregg Ogorzelec says:

      Gordon, no we’re not this year. We’ve noticed in the two years of doing it that it was pretty much the same labels year after year. No one changes their design only the year or varietal. So we’re going to do it every other year or so.

      Sorry about that.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.