The seventh annual Consumer Wine Awards will take place on Saturday, April 11 in Sacramento, Calif.
The new location for 2015 event is the result of a strategic partnership with the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB). The Consumer Wine Awards will add another, and significantly larger, wine-focused attraction to Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork events resume.
The initial awards, held in Lodi, California, marked a new approach to wine competitions by having consumer wine evaluators, rather than just professional judges, assess wines. Wine professionals and specially trained wine judges are not allowed.
This format continues in Sacramento for 2015, with consumer wine evaluators assessing the categories of which they would be most inclined to buy and enjoy. Sweet wine lovers will evaluate sweet wines, Chardonnay devotees will weigh in on which Chardonnays capture their attention, and big red wine enthusiasts will taste and assess a range of the intense wines they love. The sensitivity and preferences assessment for Consumer Wine Evaluators is conducted via myVinotype.com and is also part of a larger, on-going study of wine consumer preferences, attitudes and behaviors.
As a special bonus, the Consumer Wine Awards also includes consumer seminars and tastings where participants can learn more about how individual taste sensitivity shapes wine preferences.
“The Consumer Wine Awards is open to wines of every region, grape variety, type and
style from around the world,” said Tim Hanni, a Master of Wine and one of the event founders. “It is the first to recognize and celebrate the fact every person has unique physiological and sensory differences that profoundly affect wine and food preferences.”
The partnership between the Consumer Wine Awards and the SCVB will ensure that the subsequent Consumer Awards Gala and Tasting will become a central part of Sacramento’s annual Grape Escape wine tasting and culinary extravaganza, scheduled for June 6.
“We are excited to bring this terrific wine program to Sacramento,” said Steve Hammond, president and CEO of the SCVB. “Sacramento as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital is ultimately about the consumer and this event offers consumers the ability to determine which wines specifically appeal to them—wines not only from this region but from across world.”
Hanni agreed, saying: “Everyone associated with the growing, production, marketing and selling of wine benefits from the Consumer Wine Awards with the biggest winner being the wine consumer.”
Wine lovers are invited to apply to become consumer wine evaluators. The applications will be available beginning on Feb. 1. Information for submitting wines for evaluation, and for signing up to be an evaluator, can be found at the website: www.consumerwineawards.com or by contacting Hanni at tim@timhanni.com, (707) 337-0327.
