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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NorCal" data-source="post: 639935" data-attributes="member: 31014">When I did my first wine from grapes in 2014, I set a goal of winning a gold medal at the state level; CA State Fair.  They have 3,000+ wines entered and winning a gold is the top 10-15% of the wines.  I entered my first year and received Silvers.  It cost me $8, a bottle of wine and around an hours worth of driving.   The entry fee has now gone up to $20 per bottle <img src="http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/images/smilies/aug08_021.gif"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":ft" title="Foot tap    :ft" data-shortname=":ft" />I make the wine first for my wife, then me, then family and friends, then fellow winemakers.  Their feedback is more important than wine judges, but I'm not sure it is always honest, nor is it trained to evaluate fine wine making or detect faults in wine.There are three wines I wanted to enter.  I have plenty of wine, don't mind the drive, but the thought of spending $60 and 3 bottles of wine for a ribbon is making me think about abondoning my goal.Actual clusters from the vineyard I source grapes from:<a href="http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/carzpics/media/winery/33e347da8381824d4b882333169fcecd.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff497/carzpics/winery/33e347da8381824d4b882333169fcecd.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></blockquote>

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