Contra Costa Wine Group CCWG Winemaker of the Year
CONTRA COSTA GROUP - WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The Winemaker of the Year Award shall be called “The Wine Czar Award”.
The Wine Czar Award encourages excellence in wine making among all CCWG members. One of the best measures of excellence is the opinion of qualified judges in a structured competition environment. Accordingly, the following criteria were adopted by the Executive Board on December 10, 2024.The annual winner of the Winemaker of the Year (WoY) award shall be the competitor who accrues the most Total Points in the Award Year. All competitors must meet qualifications and entry requirements as specified below.
Definitions• Award Year - competitions entered January 1 of each year through November 30 of each year. A competition is considered to have been in the Award Year if the actual judging is conducted and awards given during the Award Year.• Recognized Competition – wine competitions on the CCWG website plus others (consult with Competition Chair)• Average Points - Points ÷ Number of Entries in a particular competition• Total Points - The sum total of the Average Points from all three competitions entered(Note: see below for Average Points and Total Points calculations)
Qualifications and Entry Requirements • Competitors must be members of CCWG. in good standing who are not the owners, winemakers or employees of licensed commercial winemaking concerns. The Competition Chair is not eligible to enter.• Competitors certify that the wines they submit for competition are 100% homemade wines created by the competitor without any hands-on assistance from a commercial winemaking concern. However, consultation with commercial winemakers and educators is encouraged by the CCWG. • When entering this competition as a team (two or more winemakers who have made the wines together) the team must enter all three qualifying competitions with the same team name and same team members. Every member of the team must be CCWG members.• Competitors must compete in a minimum of three (3) recognized wine competitions during the Award Year. Regardless of the number of competitions entered, the results of only three competitions may be considered in the WoY competition. • Among the recognized competitions entered for each year, the two required competitions are CCWG Wine Competition and Winemaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition. • Candidates must enter a minimum of two separate and distinct wines (i.e. different varietal or different vintage) of their choice in each competition.• The same wines do not need to be entered in each competition.
Formal Entry for WoY Competition• WoY entries are submitted on the Wine Czar Award entry form.• WoY entries must be received by the Competition Chair by 5:00PM December 31 of each year. • A minimum of 75 Total Points is required to be eligible to compete for the WoY award.• The Competition Chair verifies all entries and submits the top scorer and all applications to the President for review and approval. • The scores of the top three finishers will be publicized to all Group members.
Points• Poorly performing/scoring wines in a competition can pull down the overall WoY point total. To offset this, the following encourages club members to enter multiple wines into competitions without the consequence of being penalized by poorly scoring wine entries:• When 4 wines are entered, can exclude 1 wine• When 5 are entered, can exclude 2 wines• When more than 5 entered, can exclude 3 wines (Exclusion changes are made on the entry form)• Points are awarded as follows:• Bronze Award –- 20• Silver Award –- 30• Gold - 40• Double Gold Award – 50• Best Varietal – 10 additional points• Best of Show Red, Best of Show White, Best of Show Dessert, Best of Show Fruit or Berry, Best of Show Sparkling Wine, or Best of Show Other –- 20 additional points. Note: A wine may win in more than one category, i.e. Best Malbec and Best Red, in which case 30 points would be awarded.Grand Champion (for those competitions which award a SINGLE Best of Show or Grand Champion) – 40 additional points• Average Points = Points ÷ Number of Entries in that particular competition: Note: Wine(s) excluded from scoring do not count as an Entry• Total Points = The sum of the Average Points from all three competitions entered
The Winemaker of the Year is the competitor who earns the most Total Points• Competitors are to complete the Winemaker of the Year entry form which guides the calculation of the Total Points score. Find the form attached.• Entries must be received by the Competition Chair by 5 pm on December 31 of each year.
Questions Direct any questions to the Competition Chair (Revised December 9, 2024)
The Winemaker of the Year is the competitor who earns the most Total Points• Competitors are to complete the Winemaker of the Year entry form which guides the calculation of the Total Points score. Find the form attached.• Entries must be received by the Competition Chair by 5 pm on December 31 of each year.
Questions Direct any questions to the Competition Chair (Revised December 9, 2024)
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