# Corrados



## JohnT

Corrado's just announced the details on their annual amateur winemaking competition. 

It will be held at the Venetian event center in Garfield, NJ on Friday, January 29, 2016, beginning at 6pm.

Tickets to attend the event will be $120 per person (or $110 per person if you purchase 10 or more tickets) and includes dinner. 

Entry fee for each wine is $15. 

Each entry will be 2 750ml bottles (except for dessert wines or grappa)

Here is the link to the entry form for all those interested..

http://site.corradosmarket.com/pdfs/entry-2015.pdf

and here is the link if you are interested in purchasing tickets..

http://www.corradosmarket.com/Store/detail.aspx?ID=1145


I am planning to attend this year with a good crew. I have not gone in quite some time and I look forward to a great time.


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## franki1926

Great event every year


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## joeswine

Where is Garfield at John, what are you going to enter, would Port be considered to be a 375. Entire. Thinking about going to the event.


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## JohnT

joeswine said:


> Where is Garfield at John, what are you going to enter, would Port be considered to be a 375. Entire. Thinking about going to the event.


 
Yes, I believe that port is a 375ml entry.

Garfield is located just south of where Route 80 and the garden state parkway intersect (

It is exit 157 off of the parkway or exit 61 off of route 80.


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## JohnT

Just a reminder that there is still time to enter. Deadline is 1/18/2016.


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## franki1926

Great event, we go every year. Worth every penny


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## TXWineDuo

For those who are out of state and have to ship the bottles what is the preferred method of shipping? 
How much protection do y'all put around the bottle?
Where do y'all get the boxes to ship the bottles in?

If using the post office how do y'all answer the questions about what kind of contents?
Or is it better to use the computerized postal assistant in the lobby? 

Thanks


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## ibglowin

Never use the USPS to ship alcohol, it is not allowed. Only use UPS or Fedex and ship it as "steak marinade". Get a proper wine shipping box from a local shipping store.



TXWineDuo said:


> If using the post office how do y'all answer the questions about what kind of contents?
> Or is it better to use the computerized postal assistant in the lobby?
> 
> Thanks


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## JohnT

ibglowin said:


> Never use the USPS to ship alcohol, it is not allowed. Only use UPS or Fedex and ship it as "steak marinade". Get a proper wine shipping box from a local shipping store.


 

Personally, I ship as "Fragile Art Glass", which is not a lie.. lol 


Folks, 

I am attending this year. I have found them a little slow in posting results on the internet. If you are entering, and want to know the results right away, please PM me with your name.....


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## ibglowin

Neither is "Steak Marinade"! 



JohnT said:


> Personally, I ship as "Fragile Art Glass", which is not a lie.. lol


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## JohnT

ibglowin said:


> Neither is "Steak Marinade"!


 
I dunno... I guess my wine is too good for marinating steak. The bottle always seems to empty before it gets to the meat... ::::


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## Rodnboro

I ship UPS. They always ask and I always say marinade. They write food as the contents and I have to sign a disclaimer that states it's not insured. I multi layer in bubble wrap and ship in a regular box.


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## franki1926

dropped off my 12 entries today, was told they have received entries from 5 states and are approaching 700. Can't wait it's always a great night


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## Wine-O

I will be there as well, always a fun evening.

When I ship my wine I list it as grape juice, I don't say it's fermented!!

Best of luck to everyone!!


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## Amanda660

I use UPS and state "Marinade" as well. If I'm only shipping a bottle or two I roll them in bubble wrap and seal each of them in a huge ziplock bag (just in case). If I'm sending more I use a wine shipping box - I've never paid for a box because word of mouth got me a dozen boxes and all the inserts. Great to know people in wine clubs


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## Billpizzaiolo

*Corrado's Contest*

I entered a few years ago. The party is huge and lots of really good food and wines. They put all the entries out for the attendees to drink. We had a table of ten the last time we went. Three of the five families had entries. No awards but lots of fun. I don't think we will be attending this year. Conflicting dates for us. 

Maybe in the future, someone on the Wine Making Talk forum could put together a table of ten individual  entries to get the table of ten discount. 

Bill


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## JohnT

*Corrado's Wine Bar*

What they do is set up two bars with all of the medalists wines. You can simply go up there and ask for a varietal. It is really cool to taste what others are doing. 

They do have other full service bars in addition to the wine bar 

It goes without saying that I am not driving home from this event. I arranged a limo to take us there. 

For all that are attending, we should figure a way where we can all meet up. 


If anyone has shipped entries, I am still willing to call you at the event to let you know how you did. Posting of results is rather slow. Just PM me your contact info, and I can let you know right away.


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## JohnT

franki1926 said:


> dropped off my 12 entries today, was told they have received entries from 5 states and are approaching 700. Can't wait it's always a great night


 



Wine-O said:


> I will be there as well, always a fun evening.
> When I ship my wine I list it as grape juice, I don't say it's fermented!!
> Best of luck to everyone!!


 

Just two days to go everyone! Franki1926 / Wine-O, how about we meet up at the event? Like a chance to shake hands with you guys....


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## joeswine

Couldn't make it this time. But will definitely be in the e one,so you still a chance of winyb


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## JohnT

joeswine said:


> Couldn't make it this time. But will definitely be in the e one,so you still a chance of winyb


 
Joe, I am not sure I understand the above....


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## joeswine

JohnT said:


> Joe, I am not sure I understand the above....



Only small talk good luck to all of you I'll be in next year


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## JohnT

only got 3 bronzes and 1 gold. i have not seen a=beating like this since the last tyson fight!

still it was a great time!


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## joeswine

Better to have won ,placed or show than nothing for your time and entry fee, no matter what the cost ,don't you think? Nice job my fine vino friend.


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## sour_grapes

JohnT said:


> only got 3 bronzes and 1 gold. i have not seen a=beating like this since the last tyson fight!
> 
> still it was a great time!



I am sure the results were disappointing, and it appears that you have a good attitude about it, but consider that I would give my eye teeth to produce the wines you produce!


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## ceeaton

I'd give my eye teeth and my molars.

I'd give one of the kids but my wife might not like that too much.


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## Wine-O

I didn't do much better John, 3 bronze, 1 silver, and 1 gold. And the gold was for my Mead! My wife got 2 silvers and a gold.
What happened to the Best of Show awards for reds and whites? My wife had a gold for her chardonnay and thought she had a good chance getting the best of show for whites, there wasn't too many gold medals for the whites. Did they forget or are they getting cheap?
Plus the vendor area is getting smaller and smaller each year. And this year they really rushed us with the food, the whole thing (except the dancing) was over by 9:30.


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## JohnT

sour_grapes said:


> I am sure the results were disappointing, and it appears that you have a good attitude about it, but consider that I would give my eye teeth to produce the wines you produce!


 



ceeaton said:


> I'd give my eye teeth and my molars.
> I'd give one of the kids but my wife might not like that too much.


 

Shucks guys, you are making me blush! Thanks so much for the kind words..

I was very surprised that some of my entries did not place at all, and very surprised at what did win medals and what did not. I entered a 2013 Riesling that (IMHO) is everything that a dry Riesling should be and one of the two best wines I entered. It made it to the finals, but did not medal. I found that very surprising.

Well, the important thing is that I like it. Given that judging wine is subjective, I wonder how the Riesling would do in other competitions. Perhaps I will enter another contest and find out.


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## JohnT

Wine-O said:


> I didn't do much better John, 3 bronze, 1 silver, and 1 gold. And the gold was for my Mead! My wife got 2 silvers and a gold.
> What happened to the Best of Show awards for reds and whites? My wife had a gold for her chardonnay and thought she had a good chance getting the best of show for whites, there wasn't too many gold medals for the whites. Did they forget or are they getting cheap?
> Plus the vendor area is getting smaller and smaller each year. And this year they really rushed us with the food, the whole thing (except the dancing) was over by 9:30.


 

I was wondering about the best in show myself. Not sure why they did not have it this year. I won the winemaker of the year award a number of years back and have been told that I was no longer eligible for that, so I was trying for best in show.

I noticed a number of things. First, the lack of vendors was surprising. To be honest, I did not see any, but my wife said that they were all huddled into a side room. The last one we went to (4 or 5 years ago) was jam-packed with vendors.

I was also surprised by how few finalists there were. The list was less than two pages long. Most years, the list is 3 or 4 pages long. Not sure if this was due to a smaller number of entries this year?

The all over quality of the food was great! I especially liked the clams oreganato and the fried calamari. They did seem to pull the buffet early. I went for some food around 8:30 and all they had was desserts. Really wanted to try the raw oysters. 

At first, the wine bars were serving the finalist wines. Around 7pm, they ran out of the finalists and started pouring the "non-finalist" wines. The finalists were awesome, but the three non-finalists I tried were just plain awful. Luckily, the open bar opened at 8pm. Switched to brandy at that point. Hiring a limo was a very smart thing to do.

All critique aside, there were 14 in our group. We ate, we drank, we danced and we smoked (outside courtyard) hand rolled cigars with our brandy. It really was a good time even though a bit disappointing for me.


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## Billpizzaiolo

Thanks for the review. Was it very crowded? The one we went to a number of year's ago was in a country club and the food was outstanding and overflowing. It was very very well attended. There were pages and pages of winners from every category. The finalist wines they served were not as good as we expected. The run of the mill were hard to drink. We (four cousins each entering their wines) didn't send in any bottles this year or buy tickets.


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## franki1926

I am glad others felt the same way as my group of 13.

The food was great and was happy they opened the doors to the event early this year. They put the food away early this year, not sure what the rush was also there were about 1/2 the venders that there were a few years ago.

The judging was off this year. Two of my best Reds made the finals but no medals. Shocked. It also looked like they only gave out 1/2 the medals that they gave out last year. Maybe all the judges didn't get there last weekend in the snow.


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## JohnT

I am thinking the same thing franki..


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## franki1926

results are posted on there site, looks like 1/2 the medeals at past years


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## JohnT

glad i checked the results. turns out i won gold for my cab franc instead of the touriga. makes me feel slightly better since cab franc is readily available and not so much a rare find as touriga grapes. i have a number of bottles left and i now i am itching to open a bottle to see just what the judges were getting at. the funny thing is that i viewed this wine as a verry common attempt and have passed it up without a second thought. 

i guess it is right, gold is where you find it....

i honestly do not know why i feel better about this, but i do.


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## franki1926

Corrado's deadline for entries is tomorrow and the contest is on the 21st. Anyone going this year ? I entered 10 wines, fingers crossed


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## Wine-O

Best of luck Franki! I am bringing down my entries tomorrow. Corrados called me today since I haven't brought my wines down yet and told me the deadline has been extended to Wednesday. I have 13 entries in wine, distilled spirits, and labels.


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## JohnT

I am out this year, but good luck fellas! 

If you are attending, perhaps you could post some pictures?


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## joeswine

Was interested in this one are the final awards posted yet?


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## JohnT

joeswine said:


> Was interested in this one are the final awards posted yet?


 
I believe that the event is on the 21st.


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## joeswine

Thanks John,do you want to do A Big Red Contest In The fall,How about you wine maker's out there The big Red's were a win,win and after this last contest shows the extent of the craftsmen ship on this forum.Just think about it plenty of time,yours Jp


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## JohnT

joeswine said:


> Thanks John,do you want to do A Big Red Contest In The fall,How about you wine maker's out there The big Red's were a win,win and after this last contest shows the extent of the craftsmen ship on this forum.Just think about it plenty of time,yours Jp


 
Sound good. It will have to be in November again since fall is "busy time" at the winery.


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## joeswine

Sounds good let me know when your crush is if I have the time summers busy for me but I would like to work it.


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