NJ State Fair

Anyone enter this?

This competition was a wierd one.

They used the UC Davis scoring system to judge the wine in each category, but then limited the awards to the top three. They further limited awards based on the UC Davis score.

In other words, you could enter a gold level wine, but then receive nothing (if other gold level wines score higher). This is bad.

On the other had, you could be the only entry in a category, and also not win anything. In this case, they would only award you a medal based on the score. (I guess this is good).

Has anyone else entered a competition like this?

I tried to enter this one but no one would send me a reply to my email. I didn't know where to find out any info on this one. Sounds like I'm glad I missed out!! How did you do?

Very wierd competition.

I got a first place for 2009 Cab Franc
I got a second place for 2009 cab sav
I got a second place for Chardonnay.

The competition was small. For two of my wines (medal winners in both winemaker and indy) there was no award. The judging started at 5pm and was finally over at 8pm. My wife felt like she was watching paint dry.

Not that I want to complain (and should be happy)....

I did not like the fact that the judging was held in an open air pavillion. the wine entries were (for part of the 3 hour ordeal) in full sun. After the judges were finished with a catgory, they offered samples and (I can tell you) that the wine was WARM!).

I guess that only the wines that hold up to the heat did well.


For future reference, try this web site..

http://www.newjerseystatefair.org/documents/10cahhrulesandentry.pdf

Do we have to hand deliver the wine or can we send it? Give us a heads up for next years fair.

It used to be that you could have it delivered, but now it is a real pain...

For this year...

1) You have to hand deliver to the Sussex County Fairgrounds (Richards building) on either 7/31 (9am - 5pm), or 8/1 (9am - 12noon).

2) They did send me one (1) ticket to get in. I had to pay for my wife.

3) They ask for two bottles. One they taste, and one they display. I need to go and pick up my wine and medals. This can only be done on 8/15 between the hours of 6pm and 7:30pm. Wow! A whole 90 minutes!.

So, for the record, this was a big pain requiring at least 2 trips to the fairgrounds (three is you want to see the judging).

Not worth entering then if I have to deliver it. What happens to the "display" bottle?

They judged on 8/7 and then put the "display" bottle on display (with any awarded medals attached) for the remainder of the week. On 8/15 we need to pick up both the medals and the "display" bottles to take home.

If you do not care about the display bottle, I could pick up your medals and then mail them to you. You would then only need to drop off your wine at the fair. If I am closer to you (Chester), You could deliver your entries to me, then I could also drop off your entries next year (along with mine).

OK thanks. Give us a heads up for next year so those who want to enter can get the bottles to you.