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WINE COMPETITIONS

nes that were entered and didn’t advance so your However, the competitions also have a num-
risk is a low one, “ wrote Kimberly Charles. ber of other functions that are not visible at
„You’re serving consumers; in the sea of first glance. The more wines that compete, the
choices consumers have, a shelf talker or medal more jurors are needed. Competitions thus
stickers are often the only life-raft they have in become like congresses or conferences, a me-
an overwhelming situation, do them a favour!” eting place for experts in the field and a place
The USA and Canada are just getting used for building as well as developing professional
to the European custom of gluing little medals contacts. And more and more often they di-
obtained on to the bottles. rectly connect with congresses.
In European countries, self-adhesive bottle Two of the most strongly represented
medals are a popular marketing tool, although groups of judges in juries are the winemakers
even here the popularity varies from country and technology experts themselves, as well as
to country and from winery to winery. Winning the professional journalists and wine critics.
gold medals in influential wine competitions The renowned journalists, and we know they
can help boost sales and brand awareness for get inundated with wines to sample and try,
wineries of all sizes. With dozens of competi- many of which never even get to be tasted as
tions held around the country each year, wi- it’s a full time job critiquing wine. Here, if your
neries need to pick and choose the ones they wine proceeds forward, you can certainly get
decide to enter. their attention a different way.
Participation in competitions is not free. To In some places, such as the Vinalies Interna-
give you an idea, the entry fee is 50 to 200 tionales in Paris, organized by the Union des
dollars or euros per sample, plus you need to Œnologues de France, the first group predo-
add the cost of transport, customs duties and minates. In other places, such as the Concours
local taxes. These costs are really high, especi- Mondial de Bruxelles, there are more journa-
ally when the competition asks for 6 bottles of lists. On top of that, this competition travels
each sample. the world from place to place year after year.
However, many wineries are aware that For the country and region where it is held, it
knowing the true quality of their wine and is an amazing and unique opportunity to gain
its evaluation by a group of international ex- publicity! And it works perfectly - Slovakia has
perts are priceless. Wines are evaluated by tried it and last year we in the Czech Republic
juries composed of 4 to 7 judges. The best tried it too.
competitions in the world strive for having An indirect but not insignificant effect of
equal representation of men and women, the competitions is that they bring hundreds
producers and other experts, domestic and of people from all over the world to the wine
foreign jurors, judges from both the northern regions for a few days to fill the local hotels
and southern hemisphere and from large and and restaurants and because the competi-
small wine-growing countries in the jury. Their tions took place outside the tourist season,
votes are averaged, extreme ratings are elimi- it was a welcome refreshment of the local
nated. If someone awarded 100 points to their economy. Competitions are currently held
wine or conversely a minimum points to their when they are allowed to take place and the
neighbor‘s wine (and they would have to re- number of judges is minimized. We hope that
cognize them first!), this system would reliably changes when we wake up from the current
eliminate it. Some competitions also process nightmare.
the description of the evaluated wines. That is Let‘s listen to the opinions of people from
how, e.g. the annual guide „1000 Vins du Mon- some of the largest and most prestigious com-
de“ is created. petitions in the world. ƅ
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