NCFWS - Day 1 of Judging

January 30, 2017

Graylyn Estate

The Judges

A beautiful day helped christen us with the Inaugural North Carolina Fine Wines Competition.  We gathered at the Graylyn Estate here in Winston-Salem and tasted 100% North Carolina grown and vinified vinifera and hybrid grapes.  Our esteemed Advanced Level Judges spoke with our UNCG Hospitality students and shared with them their stories of how they entered into the careers that they have now.

All Advanced Sommeliers

We can't talk about the scores, but we did get to serve many of the wines and we are very happy with the progress of the judging of the wines.  By this time tomorrow we'll have all the results in and sealed until Saturday February 18th, 2017 when we celebrate these 100% North Carolina Wines.

Thanks for following our story!

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - Map out your Sunday Sipping

January 29, 2017

We're off to get the everything setup for the Judging.  Hope you all have a great Sunday.  I know this one will be exciting as we prepare and start to welcome our esteemed Back Room Team of Carl & Nancy Bandy, and the professional team of judges.

North Carolina Fine Wines Society

Thanks for reading this week.  Enjoy your Sunday.  It looks like a great day to visit one of your favorite (or soon to be favorite) vineyards.  Here's a GPS Enabled Google Map to help you get started.  Works on your phone with GPS to help locate vineyards near you.  Works on your laptop to help you plan your trip.  Make sure to link to the vineyards' web pages or Facebook pages to see what's happening and find out their hours of operation.

Cheers!

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - The Dinner Menu

January 28, 2017

So the while the bottles are resting and the printer is printing glass and bottle labels for the blind tasting, we're prepping for upcoming events beyond just the judging.

Texting his favorite wine...

We're keeping the results of the Inaugural North Carolina Fine Wines Competition confidential until the evening of the Awards Gala on Saturday February 18th, 2017. The Awards Gala is being held at the The Millennium Center, which was built in 1906, and has been beautifully restored.  Find out more about the historic Millennium Center here. The meal is going to be a six course meal paired with six wines from North Carolina. We will be pacing the meal so that there is plenty of time to enjoy the wine, food, and conversation.  We are featuring as many North Carolina food products as we can, because Local Food also means Local Wines at the table.

Childress Vineyards - Beautiful in the winter months too!

Between courses, we'll have a representative from each vineyard speak about the wines being served with the each course. Here is the menu.  Also, the Millennium Center's Executive Chef Patrick Rafferty will explain about why he paired the wine with the specific course.  We will also have a short presentation on the state of North Carolina Wine by Dr. Ian Taplin, author of The Modern American Wine Industry: Market Formation and Growth in North Carolina. 

This Inaugural NC Fine Wines Awards Gala is featuring the wines of our Board and Advisory board. Those vineyards that are represented in the 2017 North Carolina Fine Wines Case will be asked to submit wines for the 2018 Awards Gala. This is how we pay it forward in the Wine Industry!

What is the biggest question about the Awards Gala?  It's this - What's the Dress Code?  We are a Black Tie Optional Event.  We've been saying Dress to Impress, but also we know people like to be comfortable.

We are down to less than 50 tickets left, so act quickly.   It's a great way to end Valentine's Week!

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - The Entries are In!

January 27, 2017

We are thrilled to announce that we have had just over 145 entries into the Inaugural North Carolina Fine Wines (NCFWS) competition from 40 participants. A huge Thank You to all those who have helped to make this a success. Our goal was to have 100 entries for our first year's competition, and you proved to us that there is a demand for this type of competition.

We also would like to say Thank You to those vineyards that contacted us with such great enthusiasm, but could not submit wines this year due to limited supplies. What a great problem to have.  We look forward to working with you next year! We'd still love to see you at the Awards Gala or one of our three ShowCase Events in Cary, Charlotte, or Asheville.

By the way, all these events are open to the Public. Just as most of the people who have had the opportunity to visit the vineyards know, wine is always served with outstanding North Carolina hospitality.

Millennium Center, Winston-Salem

Just so you know, the Awards Gala in Winston-Salem is down to the last 50 tickets for sale ($125 per person). The Black Tie Optional event will be a very relaxed 6 course meal served with wines from our Board and Advisory Board's vineyards. The evening will include the announcements of the winning Wines and Vineyards for the Inaugural North Carolina Fine Wines Competition.  The winners will be announced and we'll also hear about the state of North Carolina's Wine Industry. The 2017 Fine Wines Case will be announced and those will be the wines that will be served at the three ShowCase events.  It is a great way to educate yourself on North Carolina's Fine Wines.

Millennium Center

The event is from 6:00 - 9:00 PM.  Dinner Service will relaxed and you will have plenty of time to enjoy the meal and wines. With six courses and six wines, we'll be pacing the meal appropriately.

• 2/18/2017 NC Fine Wines Society Awards Gala - The Millennium Center, Winston-Salem
  Menu is subject to adjust slightly due to the availability of North Carolina products.  

Visit www.NCFineWines.com for more information.

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - Wine Pairings with Students

January 26th, 2017

We've been especially busy the last few days working with with several groups on the upcoming events.  Most immediately, we have the judging of the wines, but we are already planning to figure out the effectiveness of the competition and associated events.  The North Carolina Fine Wines Society (NCFWS) wants to make sure we're doing the best we can to achieve our primary goals.

1.  Promote the Quality of North Carolina Fine Wines
2.  Establish a Scholarship Fund for North Carolina Students Attending North Carolina Schools pursuing careers in Viticulture, Enology, Agritourism, and Hospitality.

Roaring River Vineyards - So relaxing!

One of the great experiences that has come out of the competition is the opportunity to work with students from both the University of North Carolina School at Greensboro Bryan School of Business & Economics, and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

Today we met with 32 students from the hospitality program at UNCG and their Professor Erick Byrd.  Our Back Room Management team Carl & Nancy Bandy were there to walk the students through a dry run of the competition. The students role will be very important to the smooth operation and timing at the judging. Not only will they be opening and pouring the wines,  they will be delivering the wines to the judges under the guidance of the team and gaining knowledge of how wine competitions operate.

Views from Silver Fork Vineyards

Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards
Tasting Room

We're also working with a group of students from a Wake Forest University to analyze the progress we have made in this first year and collect feedback from both participating and non-participating vineyards as to the quality of the project and what they would like to see in the future. Since so many of our projects include an educational aspect, we also will be reaching out to the general public who will be attending events to see what they liked and didn't like from our events, and how we can create learning experiences that will create even more interest in our projects.

So a big Thank You goes out to the students and their Universities that are helping promote the quality of North Carolina Wines and building a better future for our local industries.

Please visit the Winston-Salem Foundation and help a student follow their passion by making a tax deductible donation to our 501(c)(3) Scholarship.  Here's a short video on why we partnered with the Winston-Salem Foundation.

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - The Back Room Team

January 25, 2017

Autumn Creek Vineyards Sleeping Vines

Pruning at Stonefield Cellars Winery

The North Carolina Fine Wines Society may be having their Inaugural Fine Wines Competition, but this isn't the first time at the rodeo for many of those involved. Right out of the gate we had our minds made up to invite highly respected individuals to the team and make sure that we harnessed the talent to make this competition exceptional.  And while the Sommeliers are often in the spotlight, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure a quality competition has been branded.

The Society has consistently been guided by quality in our processes. We started with online entries and software management from Enofile Online. This software allows for the vineyards to both electronically file with us, and then once their wines have been entered into the system, the vineyards can quickly enter other competitions without having to fill out the same information multiple times.

Once all the information is collected, the back room management team can dynamically order and arrange flights for the competition on the fly. We'll be using their many features such as printing the labels to go on the bottles and corresponding glasses that will be served. There is an extensive process to get bottles received, cataloged, inventoried, verified, and photographed so that their entry condition is recorded.  The unique numbering process allows us to track back to the wines so that the judges are not seeing anything but a coded sheet for each wine entered.  Once the judges have scored the wines, those scores are recorded and calculate the winning entries.

Cellar 4201

Our Back Room Manager is Carl Bandy, who has worked for over 25 years with the Indy International Wine Competition.  He is assisted by his wife Nancy, who also has over 20 years experience as a judge with the Indy International Wine Competition.  Together they have been on both sides of the judging room fence and know how to make the process efficient and unobtrusive. With extensive documentation and procedures, we've got decades of talent ready to implement a new competition.

Lazy Elm Vineyards

With dozens of flights in a couple of days, we were fortunate to enlist the assistance of the UNCG Bryan School of Business & Economics' Hospitality students. Professor Erick Byrd is bringing in 32 students over two days to participate in the competition. The students will be graded by the Professor for their poise and professionalism in the competition. We're excited about having the students being involved in this real world application of high hospitality standards.  And it gives all of us a chance to interact with some of the top Sommeliers in the South East.  These same students will be tasked with presenting a Gala event later in the year for UNCG.

Lazy Elm Vineyards Spring 2016

Once the flights of wines have been delivered and returned, the results will be collected and calculated by our treasurer and verified by Executive in Residence, Sam Troy from UNCG Bryan School of Business & Economics. The calculations will be sealed and held confidential until Saturday, February 18th, 2017.

It will be during the Inaugural North Carolina Fine Wines Awards Gala at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem where the results will be shared at this public gala. There are currently less than 70 seats left to the Gala, which will feature a six course meal paired with six Fine Wines from the Fine Wines Society Board. The North Carolina Fine Wines Case will be a collection of the top 12 wines from the competition. The vineyards that are represented in the Fine Wines Case will be invited to pair their wines at the 2018 Awards Gala dinner - the ultimate way to keep paying it forward.

We deeply appreciate the help and guidance of the UNCG Bryan School of Business & Economics. Their guidance and support has been especially helpful in this past year for the Society. UNCG has long been interested in the success of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association and the Grape Council.

Thanks again for your support of North Carolina locally grown foods.

North Carolina Fine Wines Society - The Process

Tuesday January 24th, 2017

There are two goals of the North Carolina Fine Wines Society.  (NCFWS)

1.  To raise the awareness of North Carolina Fine Wines. NCFWS - Call to Action Video

2.  Create a Scholarship Fund for North Carolina Students pursuing wine related careers in North Carolina. NCFWS Video

It is with these two goals in mind that we have been able to move forward with the help of the North Carolina wine producers and great sponsors. Over the course of the 2016, we were lucky enough to visit over 80 vineyards in North Carolina that produce North Carolina Fine Wines to explain our mission and ask for feedback.

Raffaldini Vineyards

Fine Wines are those wines that are dry and come from Vinifera and Hybrids, like Chambourcin, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Many people do not know that these wines are being produced in North Carolina across the state. Not only are they being produced, but they are starting to break through in quality and renown across the country.

So how do you help get the word out when people in your own area don't have any idea? We decided that it was time to create an enlightenment. Sure, there are thousands of people here in North Carolina who have discovered these wines, but there are literally millions who haven't. The NC Fine Wines Society discussed how we could help get our story out to others and share a glass. And we decided that the way to raise the awareness was through a North Carolina Fine Wines Competition.

Jones Von Drehel Vineyard

The Competition would have to be transparent and professional. We all know that Sommeliers are trusted professionals in the industry. Sommeliers help people discover what wines are true to form and have the knowledge of how wines should look, taste and match our expectations. If you don't know about the Guild of Sommeliers, we recommend you check out the movie Somm (2012), a documentary that will give you an idea of how difficult it is to achieve the highest levels of expertise in the field.

We are lucky to have eight Advanced Level Sommeliers as judges. In North and South Carolina, there are perhaps only a dozen Advanced Level Sommeliers. We also made sure that our judges were public so that everyone would know the quality of our judges. Because not only are highly experienced people necessary to the cause of raising the awareness of North Carolina's wine industry, it is of utmost importance to the wineries. The wineries are looking forward to this competition because they know the value of the feedback from these professionals.

Here are some of the rules that we've created for our competition.

- Judges will all hold an active certification as either Master or Advanced Sommelier, or equivalent. Names of judges will be announced prior to the competition.
- No discussion about the wines will be permitted during the judging. - Judges’ Tasting Notes will be made available to the Entrant.

Davesté Vineyards

- Judges will use the following Wine Spectator 100 point scale when rating wines:
 95-100 Classic: a great wine
 90-94 Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style
 85-89 Very good: a wine with special qualities
 80-84 Good: a solid, well-made wine 
75-79 Mediocre: a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
 50-74 Not recommended
 Note: Any wine below 50 will not receive a score.


- Scoring Methodology: Each wine will be evaluated by all judges, in a single-blind tasting. Judges will know the grape or category of a wine; no other information about the wine will be provided to the judges. Except when determining a double gold, the lowest score will be dropped; the remaining scores are used to determine awards, and will be averaged to determine the Final Score.

And to ensure the whole process runs smoothly, we've got a great team to execute and support the competition. We'll leave that until tomorrow.

Riedel 

 But we would like to thank one of our sponsors who makes all wines taste great - Riedel Crystal of America.  There are business suppliers, and there are business partners, and Riedel has been a great partner to the North Carolina wine industry.  They aren't known as The Wine Glass Company without reason.  Please seek them out as you build your stemware collection.