Swapping wine with fellow winemakers via a contest?

I'm making more wine than I can possibly consume, coupled with I can grow tired of drinking the same thing all the time.

I'm confident that I could gather a dozen home winemakers that would want to swap a half dozen bottles. My concern is that people would bring the wine they want to get rid of, versus their good stuff: so I'm thinking of doing the swap coupled with a contest.

My thought is having everyone bring 7 bottles. Six would go into the trading pool, one would go in to the blind tasting contest. The blind tasting would be just that; blind. You would pick your 6 favorite wines on a sheet of paper. Once everyone has made their votes, we would unwrap the wines. I would discount any votes made for the wine they brought. Then the wine that received the most votes would ge first to pick their favorite 6. After the person with the highest votes picks their six, then the wine that's received the 2nd highest number of votes wouldbe announced and then they get to pick their favorite 6, and so on.

This should give the motivation and reward to bring some good wine to the contest.

Any thoughts?

It really depends on who comes as far as what their intentions are. One thought is exactly as you mention, bring something good and get rewarded.
Another thought would be as you first mentioned. People would still bring seven of their lesser wines because no matter what, they are still going home with six different wines to try.....................unless of course, no one picked theirs and they had to take their own wine back home.

Norcal,

I do not think that you have anything to worry about when it comes to swapping wine with others. I think you will fine that most here would only swap their best stuff.

No one wants to be thought of as the "Maker of Swill".

I think it is a wonderful idea. I agree with John that your fear of the "free rider" problem is exaggerated in this context.

I really like the idea, any idea, to do blind tasting. I think we should all do more blind tasting, but it is hard to arrange by your lonesome. I don't think the details matter so much, but your contest seems like a good, fun way to do it! I wish I knew a dozen local home winemakers!

JohnT said:

No one wants to be thought of as the "Maker of Swill".

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Good point as @jswordy and I already have that nailed down.

On a side note, what's with the "gangster wine snob" avatar? I was expecting to see "Welch's Rules" on those fingers.

I love the new avatar - very cool. I am sure John keeps the Welch's tatoos out of sight, but close to his heart.

JohnT said:

Norcal,

I do not think that you have anything to worry about when it comes to swapping wine with others. I think you will fine that most here would only swap their best stuff.

No one wants to be thought of as the "Maker of Swill".

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I think you're right, I wouldn't dare give something away that I thought was not good just to get rid of it.

I guess better stated would be to reward the winemakers that bring wine that is found to be the best. I'm thinking I'll get it down on paper and plan for the April, May timeframe where the 2014 vintage will be ready to be consumed.

Too bad I'm so far away! I'd love to see that Mustang. Oh I mean bring some wine to share. Sure everyone will bring their best sharing with fellow winemakers. I probably like most on here drink their own worst & only give out the best! Roy

JohnT said:

Norcal,

I do not think that you have anything to worry about when it comes to swapping wine with others. I think you will fine that most here would only swap their best stuff.

No one wants to be thought of as the "Maker of Swill".

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I disagree and then disagree a bit more. You can talk to Julie about how this can go. If people enter really bad wine in competitions they certainly won't think twice about giving it to you. I really don't think they realize that it is bad.

On the other hand I have traded with folks in Western PA. at meet and greets and had all wonderful wine beside a great time.

Runningwolf said:

I disagree and then disagree a bit more. You can talk to Julie about how this can go. If people enter really bad wine in competitions they certainly won't think twice about giving it to you. I really don't think they realize that it is bad.

On the other hand I have traded with folks in Western PA. at meet and greets and had all wonderful wine beside a great time.

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I think you're missing an important distinction. If they don't realize it is bad, then you can't say they're purposefully bringing their swill and keeping their good stuff for themselves, which I believe is what the concern was.

I agree with you wineinmd. I was just poking at Johnt a bit, although Julie can tell you a bottle she got in an exchange with sludge on the bottom of the bottle. You can't not know about this before gifting it to someone.

Dan (RunningWolf) brings up a good point. But most of us are here to learn, and we want honest feedback. Yes, there will be some who offer wines they think are great and will get offended if they receive feedback that states otherwise. And there are those who will submit 'swill', thinking it is comparable to Opus One. But I think those are few and far between. I've given wines that I thought were 'OK' to friends and have stated I thought they were lacking something, but wanted another opinion. I received feedback far better than I'd expect, and I'm not sure it is 100% honest. They're friends. Maybe they don't want to hurt my feelings. Maybe they just like free wine. Who knows. That's what's nice about competitions. And that's whats nice about a forum like this. While I consider most people here to be friends, I also expect that I'd get much more honest feedback; 1) because we all have a wine enthusiasm and 2) because there is still some (small) sense of anonymity. If someone from here sent me a wine that I really thought had issues, I'd PM or email them. I certainly wouldn't want to 'out them' in public. But if I have good things to say - even if there is some good and maybe a touch of not-so-good - I'll post it here. It benefits that person going forward, if they are looking to trade with others who might be a little skeptical.

Runningwolf said:

I disagree and then disagree a bit more. You can talk to Julie about how this can go. If people enter really bad wine in competitions they certainly won't think twice about giving it to you. I really don't think they realize that it is bad.

On the other hand I have traded with folks in Western PA. at meet and greets and had all wonderful wine beside a great time.

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Them not knowing it is bad (Welch's? LOL) is one thing. I Can't fault that because they do not know better and there is nothing to prevent that.

But, to give bad wine on purpose to someone that you do not find to be a PITA is another thing. I guess I find that impossible when you have pride in your product.

Y'all do know site members voluntarily run unofficial contests nearly continuously, right? I was honored to win the very first.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45315

wineforfun said:

Good point as @jswordy and I already have that nailed down.

On a side note, what's with the "gangster wine snob" avatar? I was expecting to see "Welch's Rules" on those fingers.

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Yep, and I have the medals from coast to coast to prove it!

wineforfun said:

Good point as @jswordy and I already have that nailed down.

On a side note, what's with the "gangster wine snob" avatar? I was expecting to see "Welch's Rules" on those fingers.

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I missed that side note... It just seems that this avatar suits me.... Hard core wine snob!!!

JohnT said:

I missed that side note... It just seems that this avatar suits me.... Hard core wine snob!!!

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haha
Ok, I guess we can roll with that. Just kind of reminds me of say a skinny nerd wearing an Affliction t-shirt.................doesn't work.

wineforfun said:

haha
Ok, I guess we can roll with that. Just kind of reminds me of say a skinny nerd wearing an Affliction t-shirt.................doesn't work.

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That is the point. .... johnT, outlaw wine snob!

I had 10 gallons of apple wine that did not turn out well at all a few years ago. I didn't allow anyone other than myself to have a single sip.

It seemed to take forever to finish it. If I go share, I'm bringing my good stuff.