# New Jersey Wine Competition



## Wine-O (Jul 22, 2010)

Finally found a New Jersey Wine Competition:
www.njwine.webs.com
I'm gonna try this one as well, I'm hooked on these competitions!!


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## Lurker (Jul 22, 2010)

Onl a wine-o wuld do that


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## Wine-O (Jul 22, 2010)

You got that right Richard!!

Remember, he who dies with the most toys is nonetheless, DEAD!!!


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## Wade E (Jul 22, 2010)

Fingers crossed for you!


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## JohnT (Jul 27, 2010)

Just dropped off 10 entries. 1 bottle per entry, and only $10 per entry. No shipping charges (since I dropped them off myself. Very reasonable! 

2009 Cab Franc
2008 Pinot Noir
2008 Sangiovese
2008 Petit Sarah 
2008 Chardonnay
2007 merlot 
2007 cab franc
2007 napa merlot 
2007 sangiovese
2009 touriga port 

Got to meet the Polaks. Very nice couple. 

johnT.


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## Tom (Jul 27, 2010)

John where in NJ are you?
Good wines U submitted Kits?


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## JohnT (Jul 27, 2010)

I am located in North Jersey. 

All of my wines are from grapes. I never really got into kits.


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## Wine-O (Aug 11, 2010)

I'm bringing mine tomorrow. This is what I'm entering:

2009 German Muller Thurgau
2009 Viognier, Riesling, Chardonnay
2008 Vidal, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, Gerwurztraminer
2008 Riesling, Gerwurztraminer, Muscat
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Merlot (New Zealand)
2009 Old Vines Mencia
2008 Peach Chardonnay
2008 Orange Chocolate Port
2009 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine
2008 White Cranberry Pinot Gris
2006 White Merlot

Woo Hoo


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## JohnT (Aug 12, 2010)

Wine-o, 

I hope we both do well. 


Who are you delivering to? The Beckers? 

Also, are you planning to attend the event at Unionville Winery on the 21st?

johnT.


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## Wine-O (Aug 12, 2010)

John,
I brought my wine to Dan Kline today at his business. I was going to take it to the Beckers but Dan was closer from where I was.

As far as going to the Winery it all depends how busy we are at work. I'd like to come with my wife but one of us needs to be at the nursery until 5 
Maybe I'll come by myself.

I passed through Chester this afternoon, 2 of my favorite places there are The Publick House and Redwoods, mmm.

Best of luck to you as well, I hope there's plenty of gold medals for us both!!

Dave


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## JohnT (Aug 13, 2010)

Wine-o 

I am sure that there are plenty of golds to be had. Just hope a few of them end up around my neck. 

Yup, Public House and Redwoods are great, but there is an Italian joint named Benito's. This is just off of main street and is a BYOB place. This works out great since finding a bottle of wine (for me) is no problem. I even get the waiters to sample it. Since it is a BYOB, the food is rather upscale. 

If you make it to the competition, let me know. Perhaps we can meet up and swap "war stories". 

johnT.


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## Wine-O (Aug 14, 2010)

John,
Thanks for the info on Benito's,we'll have to check it out.

I'll let you know by the end of the week if I can make it to the winery. If not have yourself a blast and best of luck (doubt you will need it though!).

Dave


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## Wine-O (Aug 17, 2010)

John,
It looks like I will be able to make it to the vineyard on Saturday. See you then.
Dave


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## Tom (Aug 17, 2010)

*Vineland bbq and wine competition*

My club have been in this competition for the last few years. Usually we take about 60% of the medals.

Saturday, September 25, 2010
BBQ-n-Chili-n-Cheese Steak Cook Off
4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
(Rain Date: September 26, 2010)
http://www.mainstreetvineland.org/Calendar%20of%20Events.htm

Now they do not have the entry forms out yet. When they do I will post. Now the catch.. you must hand deliver I believe. Usually they want one bottle.


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## JohnT (Aug 18, 2010)

Tom, 

Sounds impressive. Are you going to be at the event? Do you make most of the wine with grapes or from kits? 



Wine-o, 

Look forward to meeting you. My plan is to get there around 1pm and picnic. 
see you there.


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## JohnT (Aug 18, 2010)

BTW, 

What do the medals look like? 

johnT.


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## Wine-O (Aug 18, 2010)

John,
I have no idea what the medals look like, and from what I read they are going to mail us the medals with the judges notes after the event. Maybe they don't order the medals until they know how many they need!

I also saw that they had 83 wines entered. I have 12 and you have 10 so 1/4of the entries are ours!!

I am planning to be there around 2:30 for the tour. It will be interesting to see what kind of turnout they get.

Dave


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## Tom (Aug 18, 2010)

JohnT said:


> Tom,
> 
> Sounds impressive. Are you going to be at the event? Do you make most of the wine with grapes or from kits?
> 
> ...



I and or other members of my wine club I'm sure will be there. Ck back when closer and maybe we can hook up.
Alot of us do wine from pure juice and some (modified), fruit and combos of almost everything. Only a few do kits. When they do its a LE of some type.


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## Tom (Aug 18, 2010)

JohnT said:


> BTW,
> 
> What do the medals look like?
> 
> johnT.



Real ones and a certificate


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## JohnT (Aug 18, 2010)

Wine-O said:


> John,
> I have no idea what the medals look like, and from what I read they are going to mail us the medals with the judges notes after the event. Maybe they don't order the medals until they know how many they need!
> 
> I also saw that they had 83 wines entered. I have 12 and you have 10 so 1/4of the entries are ours!!
> ...



I am surprised it is so small. I went to Corrado's Competition this year and MAN! what a crowd. They need to advertise more. 

johnT.


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## JohnT (Aug 18, 2010)

I ask what the medals are like because of the NJ State fair. 

Besides the entry fee (granted, it was only two dollars), I had to hand deliver the wine berfore the first day of the fair (an hour's car ride) 

Then I had to drive back down a week later to see If i won anything. (another hour's car ride) 

Then I had to drive there again to pick up my "medals" after the fair ended. This one was especially bad since I had to wait an hour (after the fair closed) to pick them up. 

Then I got to see them. They were (without a doubt) the lamest awards I ever saw. A cheap 4" piece of ribon with a token (about the size of a nickel) stapled (yes, I said stapled) to it. 


And this is not the worse part. 

The held the judging outdoors. They skillfully positioned the table holding all of the wine entries into full sun. The results were odd. I guess if your wine does not taste good above 90 degrees, you are out of luck. It was so bad that I saw a number of the corks were working there way out of the bottle.


The other thing was that I won two silver medals. Each silver medal was given 13+ points on the UC davis scale. I had a port (the only one in it's category) that was awarded a 14.2. No medal was given to the port. I wrote them a e-mail, asking them to explain, but no response yet. 

In short, the NJ Fair was a farse for wine tasting.


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## Wine-O (Aug 18, 2010)

Yeah, I love Corrado's, what a great evening.

I only found out about this one from a little blurb in Winemakers Magazine. I really thought they would get a better turnout though.


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## Wine-O (Aug 18, 2010)

After reading your posts about the fair I'm really glad they didn't answer my emails to enter my wines!!!


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## JohnT (Aug 19, 2010)

A classic case of having my expectations set too high. 

I hope that I don't sound to snippy, but I went into the fair expecting the same level of professionalism as in all other wine competitions. I fogot that this is a state fair and not just only a wine competition. 

That said, the medals really struck me as cheap and sad. We were laughing about them all the way home. When we toured the other pavillions, I noticed that the prize chickens had been awarded these HUGE ornate ribbons. 

Even bales of hay were awarded these huge ribons. 

In the vegetable pavillion, they awarded this huge ribon for just five (5) string beans laying on a paper plate. You heard me... five (5) string beans laying on a paper plate!

It was really comical. Honestly we laughed all the way home saying ..

"scratch one up for the chickens" 

What put it over the top was that we stopped at a restaurant on the way home. Inside they had a neon sign of a big chicken drinking a glass of wine. I had them rolling on the floor when I looked at it, glanced skyward, and yelled "NOW THAT'S NOT FUNNY"!!!



johnT.


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## Wine-O (Aug 19, 2010)

I can see that neon chicken lying under your Christmas tree this year, now THAT would be funny!!!


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## JohnT (Aug 19, 2010)

That is just the sort of thing that my wife would do.


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## JohnT (Aug 23, 2010)

My results 

2008 Zinfandel - Bronze 
2007 Napa Merlot - bronze
2008 Petit Sarah - Bronze 
2008 Red Blend - bronze 
2007 Cab Franc - bronze 
2009 Brunello - Bronze 
2007 Merlot - Sliver 
2009 Cab Franc - Silver 
2008 Pinot Noir - Silver 
2008 Brunello - Silver 
2007 Brunello - Sliver

there was only ONE gold medal awarded. I suppose the judges were a little picky when it came to awarding gold.


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## Wine-O (Aug 23, 2010)

My results were 6 Bronze and 2 Silvers. I'm looking forward to the judges notes on this one. Hard to believe out of 83 wines only 1 gold.

John, how many wines did you enter? I saw earlier you entered 10 but you recieved 11 medals. Did you pay someone off, lol!!

I got to the winery about 3:40 and when I finally figued out where the competition was it was already over! I did meet the other Beckers and got my certificates though.

I'm glad I did the Indy Competition, I did much better there!


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## JohnT (Aug 23, 2010)

I entered a total of 15 wines. I had second thoughts and put in another 5 at the last minute. 

I got my results and got a 16 for my San Gio. That has to be close (but not quite close enough) for a gold.


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## JohnT (Aug 23, 2010)

I looked for ya. Sorry we did not hook up.


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## Wine-O (Aug 23, 2010)

The best I did was a 15.83 (strange #) for a white blend. But I agree with you, why couldn't it be a 16.1 since they like strange #'s!!

Sorry we didn't hook up. I felt a little strange asking everyone if they were John!!


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## JohnT (Aug 24, 2010)

The ranges break down as follows ... 

13 - 14.9 Bronze
15 - 16.4 Silver
16.5 - 20 Gold

Apparently, I tied for second with a 16.0 for my 2008 Sangiovese. 

I also had 6th place for my 2008 pinot noir (15.7) and 7th place for my 2007 merlot (15.6). 

johnT.


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## Wine-O (Sep 2, 2010)

I am very disappointed with the medals I received today. They say nothing about New Jersey, they are just the same medals I got last year from American Wine Society. Bogus.


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## Tom (Sep 2, 2010)

Wine-O said:


> I am very disappointed with the medals I received today. They say nothing about New Jersey, they are just the same medals I got last year from American Wine Society. Bogus.


Se my thread under NJ competitions


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## Wine-O (Sep 3, 2010)

Tom,
Looks interesting but what do I do all day in Vineland?!! I have some suppliers in Bridgeton I can go visit!! Do you at least get a medal that says NJ on it? I like the option that its up to you if you want to bring 2 bottles or not, I don't usually have problems with my corks!! Best of luck to you and your club.


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## Tom (Sep 3, 2010)

Last year I got 1 2nd place and 2 3rd
The medals say 2009 Vineland home made wine competition
Yes does make for a long day if you cant go home. 
There are wineries in the area that you can visit.


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## JohnT (Sep 3, 2010)

Wine-o, 

This was my first AWS competition, so the medals look good to me. I thought they were much nicer than the Indy competition medals.

johnT.


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## Wine-O (Sep 4, 2010)

John,
I agree they look better than the Indy labels but I was looking forward to a medal that said New Jersey on it. It's funny that my wife just adopted a kitten that came from Indiana and she named it INDY, I told her that she can use my medal for a name tag for the kitten!!
Are you entering the American Wine Society competition? I did for the first time last year and did very well. I did get best kit wine for my Tannat/Merlot wine. I recieved a silver platter for that which was really nice, although not as nice as your cup!!
Dave


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