New Jersey Wine Competition

[JohnT]

I ask what the medals are like because of the NJ State fair.

Besides the entry fee (granted, it was only two dollars), I had to hand deliver the wine berfore the first day of the fair (an hour's car ride)

Then I had to drive back down a week later to see If i won anything. (another hour's car ride)

Then I had to drive there again to pick up my "medals" after the fair ended. This one was especially bad since I had to wait an hour (after the fair closed) to pick them up.

Then I got to see them. They were (without a doubt) the lamest awards I ever saw. A cheap 4" piece of ribon with a token (about the size of a nickel) stapled (yes, I said stapled) to it.


And this is not the worse part.

The held the judging outdoors. They skillfully positioned the table holding all of the wine entries into full sun. The results were odd. I guess if your wine does not taste good above 90 degrees, you are out of luck. It was so bad that I saw a number of the corks were working there way out of the bottle.


The other thing was that I won two silver medals. Each silver medal was given 13+ points on the UC davis scale. I had a port (the only one in it's category) that was awarded a 14.2. No medal was given to the port. I wrote them a e-mail, asking them to explain, but no response yet.

In short, the NJ Fair was a farse for wine tasting.

 

[Wine-O]

Yeah, I love Corrado's, what a great evening.

I only found out about this one from a little blurb in Winemakers Magazine. I really thought they would get a better turnout though.

 

[Wine-O]

After reading your posts about the fair I'm really glad they didn't answer my emails to enter my wines!!!

 

[JohnT]

A classic case of having my expectations set too high.

I hope that I don't sound to snippy, but I went into the fair expecting the same level of professionalism as in all other wine competitions. I fogot that this is a state fair and not just only a wine competition.

That said, the medals really struck me as cheap and sad. We were laughing about them all the way home. When we toured the other pavillions, I noticed that the prize chickens had been awarded these HUGE ornate ribbons.

Even bales of hay were awarded these huge ribons.

In the vegetable pavillion, they awarded this huge ribon for just five (5) string beans laying on a paper plate. You heard me... five (5) string beans laying on a paper plate!

It was really comical. Honestly we laughed all the way home saying ..

"scratch one up for the chickens"

What put it over the top was that we stopped at a restaurant on the way home. Inside they had a neon sign of a big chicken drinking a glass of wine. I had them rolling on the floor when I looked at it, glanced skyward, and yelled "NOW THAT'S NOT FUNNY"!!!



johnT.

 

[Wine-O]

I can see that neon chicken lying under your Christmas tree this year, now THAT would be funny!!!

 

[JohnT]

That is just the sort of thing that my wife would do.

 

[JohnT]

My results

2008 Zinfandel - Bronze
2007 Napa Merlot - bronze
2008 Petit Sarah - Bronze
2008 Red Blend - bronze
2007 Cab Franc - bronze
2009 Brunello - Bronze
2007 Merlot - Sliver
2009 Cab Franc - Silver
2008 Pinot Noir - Silver
2008 Brunello - Silver
2007 Brunello - Sliver

there was only ONE gold medal awarded. I suppose the judges were a little picky when it came to awarding gold.

 

[Wine-O]

My results were 6 Bronze and 2 Silvers. I'm looking forward to the judges notes on this one. Hard to believe out of 83 wines only 1 gold.

John, how many wines did you enter? I saw earlier you entered 10 but you recieved 11 medals. Did you pay someone off, lol!!

I got to the winery about 3:40 and when I finally figued out where the competition was it was already over! I did meet the other Beckers and got my certificates though.

I'm glad I did the Indy Competition, I did much better there!

 

[JohnT]

I entered a total of 15 wines. I had second thoughts and put in another 5 at the last minute.

I got my results and got a 16 for my San Gio. That has to be close (but not quite close enough) for a gold.

 

[JohnT]

I looked for ya. Sorry we did not hook up.

 

[Wine-O]

The best I did was a 15.83 (strange #) for a white blend. But I agree with you, why couldn't it be a 16.1 since they like strange #'s!!

Sorry we didn't hook up. I felt a little strange asking everyone if they were John!!

 

[JohnT]

The ranges break down as follows ...

13 - 14.9 Bronze
15 - 16.4 Silver
16.5 - 20 Gold

Apparently, I tied for second with a 16.0 for my 2008 Sangiovese.

I also had 6th place for my 2008 pinot noir (15.7) and 7th place for my 2007 merlot (15.6).

johnT.

 

[Wine-O]

I am very disappointed with the medals I received today. They say nothing about New Jersey, they are just the same medals I got last year from American Wine Society. Bogus.

 

[Tom]

I am very disappointed with the medals I received today. They say nothing about New Jersey, they are just the same medals I got last year from American Wine Society. Bogus.

Se my thread under NJ competitions

 

[Wine-O]

Tom,
Looks interesting but what do I do all day in Vineland?!! I have some suppliers in Bridgeton I can go visit!! Do you at least get a medal that says NJ on it? I like the option that its up to you if you want to bring 2 bottles or not, I don't usually have problems with my corks!! Best of luck to you and your club.

 

[Tom]

Last year I got 1 2nd place and 2 3rd
The medals say 2009 Vineland home made wine competition
Yes does make for a long day if you cant go home.
There are wineries in the area that you can visit.

 

[JohnT]

Wine-o,

This was my first AWS competition, so the medals look good to me. I thought they were much nicer than the Indy competition medals.

johnT.

 

[Wine-O]

John,
I agree they look better than the Indy labels but I was looking forward to a medal that said New Jersey on it. It's funny that my wife just adopted a kitten that came from Indiana and she named it INDY, I told her that she can use my medal for a name tag for the kitten!!
Are you entering the American Wine Society competition? I did for the first time last year and did very well. I did get best kit wine for my Tannat/Merlot wine. I recieved a silver platter for that which was really nice, although not as nice as your cup!!
Dave