The 2010 Amateur Wine Competition will be held October 22-23, 2010

The On-Line Registration is now OPEN...   Click the link to the left to goto the form,   it is an excellent way to quickly enter you information and pay for the competition.  Don't forget to download the Competition Brochure for the details of the competition.

Competition History:

The American Wine Society has a history of conducting very consistent Competitions for Amateur winemakers. The training program for AWS Wine Judges is a three to four year process that covers all aspects of wine evaluation from vinification procedures to wine faults to recognizing varietals. These trained Wine 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 Amateurs. Commercial wineries do not get this level of insightful feedback. In fact, 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. Most other Competitions do not provide this very useful service making the AWS Amateur Competition an instructive tool as well as an awards program.

When will the winners be announced?

The Annual Amateur and Commercial wine Competitions for 2010 will be held October 22-24 at the Holiday Inn North Hills in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We look forward to announcing the competition results at our National Conference at different times from November 11-13.  Entrants are encouraged to attend the conference in order to be announced and presented the medals in person at the National Conference.  We will also post the winners information on this website in December.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Competition Chairs, as listed below:

 Commercial Wine Competition Chairpersons

    Jim Sperk (co-chair)
    7962 Gallowae Ct.
    Mentor, OH 44060
    440-266-0394 (phone/fax)
    competitions@americanwinesociety.org

    Ed Boyd (co-chair)
    1321 Center Rd.
    Clinton, OH 44216
    330-882-5699 (phone/fax)
    competitions@americanwinesociety.org

An amateur wine competition has been an integral part of the AWS national conference for almost as long as the Society has existed. In the late 1960s, the Society’s founders addressed the interests of home winemakers in the draft of the organization’s first “Constitution.” The founders stated that a 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’s amateur winemaking competition at the AWS national conference is much more extensive than those of the early years. In a two-tiered system of judging, hundreds of wines in dozens of categories are evaluated. Medals and other honors are awarded to makers of wines deemed worthy.

The winemaking event also provides a learning opportunity for AWS members wanting to know more about evaluating wines. They may participate in judging sessions by observing the process, and by tasting and rating the wines for their own education.