2024 TVOS Amateur Wine Competition
Sat, Dec 16
|Double Tree Downtown Chattanooga
American Wine Association judges evaluate the wine and share their tasting notes with the wine maker. Awards are Gold, Silver & Bronze Medals, additional awards are Best of Kits, Best of Class, Estate Grown, Tennessee Appelation, Winemaker of the Year & Kit Winemaker of the Year.
Time & Location
Dec 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – Jan 06, 2024, 4:20 PM
Double Tree Downtown Chattanooga, 407 Chestnut St, Chattanooga, TN 37402, USA
Guests
About the event
*Drop-Off Deadline is 12/16/23, but the Judging will occure 1/6/24. This allows for the logistics of our volunteers transporting your wine from drop-off locations across Tennessee to the location where the judges will evaluate it, while maintaining holiday commitments.
2024 Wine Competition
TVOS Amateur Winemaking Contest
ENTRY FORM
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all members in good standing and non-members of Tennessee Viticultural & Oenological Society, except for commercial winemakers. Wine competition judges will not be allowed to judge their own wine category. The Amateur Wine Competition is an opportunity for the hobbyist to receive constructive feedback on their wine making efforts to improve and to receive appropriate recognition.
The fee for 2024 competition for TVOS Members is $17 per bottle entered, $15 per bottle for entry of 6 or more bottles. Fee for nonmembers is $19 per bottle entered. Remember, TVOS Membership is only $35 and includes subscription to WineMaker® Magazine. A copy of Entry Form along with payment must be mailed to:
TVOS Amateur Wine Competition
Chris and Elizabeth Card
6685 Eudailey-Covington Rd
College Grove, TN 37046
Make checks payable to TVOS. The deadline for receipt of Entry Form and fee is Saturday, December 16, 2023. Entry Forms arriving without proper payment will not be entered into competition. Each entrant is responsible to mail, hand carry or send one 750 ml bottle or two 375 ml bottles of each wine entered to one of the designated collection points with copy of completed Entry Form. On the form, write down total bottle count & have receiver do the same. Transporter will use those counts to ensure all are located before departing the collection point. Individual winery deadlines are listed below. If you attend the Annual Meeting, please consider bringing a bottle of each wine that you enter in competition to the conference to share. Anyone who wishes to donate a bottle or bottles of wine to TVOS will be greatly appreciated.
COLLECTION LOCATIONS (from west to east TN) & DROP-OFF DEADLINES
Century Farm Winery (Jackson) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
1548 Lower Brownsville Rd.
Jackson, TN 38301
(731) 424-7437 spoke with Neka
Cenwood Appliances (Nashville) Fri., Dec. 15, 2023
4015 Armory Oaks
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 256-8686 spoke with Lisa Hunt
Chattanooga Wine Club Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
4015 Tennessee Av
Chattanooga TN 37409
Call Bill Derrickson (423) 605-4268 and make arrangements to meet him
Grinder’s Switch Winery (Centerville) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
2119 Hwy 50 Loop
Centerville, TN 37033
(931) 729-3690 spoke with Abby
Grinders’ Switch Winery (Nashville) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
Dropoff on weekdays only-weekends too busy
1310 Clinton St. #125
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 679-0646 spoke with Abby
Beachaven Winery (Clarksville) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
1100 Dunlap Lane
Clarksville, TN 37040
(931) 645-8867 spoke with Sharis
Beans Creek Winery (Manchester) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
426 Ragsdale Rd.
Manchester, TN 37355
(931) 723-2294 spoke with Kaylee
Stonehaus Winery (Crossville) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
2444 Genesis Rd #103
Crossville, TN 38571
(931) 484-9463 spoke with Kim
Tennessee Valley Winery (west of Knoxville) Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
15606 Hotchkiss Valley RD
Louden, TN 37774
(865) 986-5147 spoke with Jenny
Paul and Crystal Davidson Sat., Dec. 16, 2023
1069 West Oakland Ave
Johnson City, TN 37604
(423) 383-2242 Crystal is our President!
It is the responsibility of the participant to get their entries to one of these locations by the designated deadline. A member of the competition team will pick up wine entries at opening time the following day. If the deadline is missed, it will be their responsibility to have their entries at Double Tree by Hilton in downtown Chattanooga, TN on January 6, 2024. No wine will be accepted after this date. Neither wine nor bottles are returned to the participant. Each participant must leave a copy of their entry form with their wine. Form now includes the total bottle count to be verified with drop-off attendant & subsequently with transporter in an effort to ensure no entries are unaccounted for.
RULES AND DEFINITIONS – READ CAREFULLY
General: All wine must be produced and bottled from grapes, grape concentrates, fruit, fruit juice or honey. No entrant shall be involved in any way with commercial winemaking or use the facilities of commercial wineries, other than obtaining grapes, juice or concentrates. This is an amateur contest. Wines made from professional kits (pre-balanced & pasteurized juices) are welcome but will compete in their own class separately from wines made from fresh fruits & juices.
Varietal Wines: Wine named by variety must contain at least 75% of the named variety. If variety is less than 75%, the percentage of that variety must be stated on the label. See wine category table for additional information about varietals.
Estate Wines: For purposes of this competition, estate grown wines are those made from fruit or grapes grown by the winemaker or where the beekeeper was also the winemaker.
Blending: Blended wines are to be entered in the category determined by the major component.
Competition Labeling: Each bottle of wine must be labeled with the following information: Participant’s Name, Wine Category # and Category Name, Year of Harvest, Varietal Composition (to best of knowledge), and residual sugar content description: dry, semi-sweet, sweet, dessert.
Residual sugar is as measured by Dextro® Check (or equivalent):
Dry: Not more than 1% residual sugar
Semi Sweet: Greater than 1% and not more than 3.5% residual sugar
Sweet: Greater than 3.5% and not more than 12% residual sugar
Dessert: Greater than 12% residual sugar
NOTE: Wines which, in the opinion of the judges, are too sweet for the category will be penalized.
Judging: The Board of Directors automatically approves judges accredited by the American Wine Society. The Board will approve the qualifications of additional judges before each competition. Names of persons considered having qualifications for being judges are requested by the Board. Please submit names at any time.
Fees: Entry fee for TVOS Members is $17 per entry for less than 6 entries but drops to $15 if 6 or more bottles are entered.
Entry fee is $19 per entry (bottle) entered for Non-Members.
Awards:
Wine Awards will be given to every entry that achieves qualifying scores, rated by a panel of at least three judges, based on a twenty (20) point scale as approved by the TVOS Board of Directors. Scoring Sheets for still & sparkling wines are available upon request from the Board. Minimum qualifications are as follows:
Gold Awards 16-20 points
Silver Awards 14.5-15.9 points
Bronze Awards 13-14.4 points
The Best of Kits Award is given to the best kit wine (sweet or dry) started from a professional wine making kit. The top wines are entered into best-of-kits competition. A combined panel of judges will conduct a separate judging for the “Best of Kits” award. This award is intended to showcase winemakers using kits separately from those starting from fresh juices, grapes, fruit or honey.
Best of Class Awards will be given to at least two winemakers for best sweet and best dry wines in the non-kit wine competition. The top twenty gold medal wines are entered into the appropriate sweet or dry best-of-class competition. A combined panel of judges will conduct a separate judging for the “Best of Class” awards. These classes may be further subdivided as deemed appropriate by the wine competition coordinators.
The Estate Grown Award will be given to the winemaker/grower whose wine achieved the highest gold-level score. Only estate-gown wines achieving scores above 15.9 points will be considered.
The Tennessee Appellation Award will be given to the best wine made from 100% Tennessee-grown product(s). The purpose and aim for this award is to encourage our amateur winemakers to make the very best wine they can from Tennessee fruits. Entrants from out-of-state have the opportunity to compete by purchasing Tennessee fruit or honey. Entrants competing for this award will provide the name of the grower(s), whether it is yourself or someone else within Tennessee.
The Winemaker-of-the-Year Award will be given to the winemaker with the highest average score from their top six fresh fruit wine & mead entries in the competition. Winemakers submitting less than six fresh fruit wines or meads are, therefore, ineligible for this award.
The Kit Winemaker-of-the-Year Award will be given to the winemaker with the highest cumulative score from their top six kit wine & mead entries in the competition. Winemakers submitting less than six kit wines or meads are, therefore, ineligible for this award.
Exceptions: The TVOS Board of Directors may make temporary or permanent exceptions to the regulations.
Important! Pre-Registration, Fees & Schedule: Each entry must be pre-registered and fees paid to TVOS by Fri., Dec.1, 2023 Mail your check and completed entry form to:
Chris and Elizabeth Card
6685 Eudailey-Covington Rd
College Grove, TN 37046
MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO – TVOS
WINE CATEGORIES –
Note: Blends should go into the dominant class. Any category having a large number of entries of one variety may be subdivided to make a separate category of that variety. Qualifications for subdivision is at least six (6) entries of one variety in a category with twelve (12) or more total entries.
Category
Description
Varietals
1 Red American Dry
Native or American Hybrid Concord, Steuben, Cynthiana, Muscadine, etc. (or blends.)
2 Red American Sweet
Native or American Hybrid Concord, Steuben, Cynthiana (aka Norton), Catawba, Muscadine, etc. (or blends.)
3 White American Dry
Native or American Hybrid Niagara, Duchess, Carlos Magnolia, etc. (or blends.)
4 White American Sweet
Native or American Hybrid Niagara, Duchess, Carlos, Magnolia, etc. (or blends.)
5 Red Hybrid Dry
French Hybrids Chancellor, Chambourcin, Foch, etc. (or blends.)
6 Red Hybrid Sweet
French Hybrids Chancellor, Chambourcin, Foch, etc. (or blends.)
7 White Hybrid Dry
French Hybrids Cayuga, Seyval, Vidal, etc. (or blends.)
8 White Hybrid Sweet
French Hybrids Cayuga, Seyval, Vidal, etc. (or blends.)
9 Red Vinifera Dry
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, etc. (or blends.)
10 Red Vinifera Sweet
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, etc. (or blends.)
11 White Vinifera Dry
Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, etc. (or blends.)
12 White Vinifera Sweet
Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, etc. (or blends.)
13 Grape Rose’ / Blush
Color must be appropriate. Can be sweet or dry.
14 Non-Grape
Rose’ / Blush
Color must be appropriate. Can be sweet or dry.
15 Non-Berry Fruit, Spice, Vegetables & Flowers
Apples, Peaches, Pears, Tomato, Peppers, Dandelion, Hibiscus, Herbs, Spices, etc. Sweetness can vary.
16 Non-Grape Berry
Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, etc.
Sweetness can vary.
17 Sparkling
These wines should have a lasting effervescence. Sweetness can vary. They can be made from any grape or non-grape produce. (Examples: Chardonnay, Apple, Vidal, Flowers, etc.)
18 Fortified Wines
These wines must have over 14% alcohol per volume. (Examples: Ports, Sherries, Brandies, etc.)
19 Mead
Wine made from honey.