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.