Early Bird Entries Accepted Through Oct 19, 2020
Santa Rosa, Calif., —October 1, 2020—Want to know how your wines stack up to those in your particular AVA? Enter the 2020 Harvest Terroir Challenge, the only competition to judge wines exclusively by American Viticultural Area. Wines from the same appellation are tasted side by side to determine which rise above.
The Best of Region winners are then pitted against one another to determine Best White, Best Red, Best Rosé, Best Sparkling, Best Dessert and ultimately, Best of Show.
The judging will take place on November 10 and 11, in Santa Rosa. Early Bird entries will be accepted until October 19. Enter Here
The Harvest Terroir Challenge, owned and operated by Wine Competition Management & Productions, is judged by leading wine industry professionals from across the country who evaluate and rank wines based on terroir.
Last year, Monterey County took top honors for Scheid Family Wines, whose 2018 Hive & Honey Gewurztraminer took Best of Monterey, Best of Show White and Best of Show overall. Best Red of Show went to the 2016 OVIS Lake County Cabernet Franc from Shannon Ridge Family of Wine, which took Best of Lake County AVA as well.
Heidi Scheid, Executive Vice President of Scheid Family Wines, said of last year’s win, “We were extremely honored to be awarded Best of Class, Best of Show and Best of Monterey County at last year’s Harvest Challenge for our Hive & Honey Gewurztraminer. With so many options in front of buyers and consumers alike, winning an award such as this gives Hive & Honey a chance to stand out amongst the crowd. It provides validation of our grape growing and winemaking efforts and lets people know that, hey, this is a great wine at a great price! This really helps our sales effort and allows Hive & Honey to reach new customers.”
One of the goals of Harvest Terroir Challenge is to observe how soil and climate contribute to the excellence and distinctiveness of wines from a particular region.
“The specialized nature of this competition is what attracts our judges, and the wines submitted. It’s always interesting to see the outcome where the smallest nuance can influence how a judge will rate a wine against another in a shared terroir,” says Debra Del Fiorentino. “A Gold medal here not only gives your winery additional prestige and selling power, it boosts regional recognition and enhances the conversation around what makes your dirt special.”
Last year, Del Fiorentino reported that 26% of medals awarded were Golds, with 84 of them being Double Gold, meaning all the judges on the panel agreed it was Goldworthy.
Winners will be promoted via nationwide press release, on all social media platforms and listed on winecompetitions.com. An overview article will also appear online at www.spiritedbiz.com and in a future issue of award-winning Spirited magazine, a nationally distributed adult beverage trade publication.
About Wine Competitions Management & Production (WCMP)
This organization owns and operates a variety of competitions including Sunset International Wine Competition, West Coast Wine Competition, International Eastern Wine Competition, East Meets West, International Women’s Wine Competition, Harvest Terroir Challenge, the Craft Distillers Spirits Competition, Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge, the Sunset International Distiller’s Competition and Experience Rosé. WCMP also manages the California Cider Competition and the Mendocino Apple Show International Cider Competition.
Enter the Harvest Terroir Challenge Competition Here
Early Bird entries accepted through October 19. Entry deadline and wines due November 4, 2020.
