July 2010

The ICCWC extends the invitation to commercial wineries producing wines from cold hardy grape cultivars to participate in the “2010 International Cold Climate Wine Competition” to be held in St. Paul Minnesota on August 24, 2010. Entries open Saturday, May 1, 2010 and close at 4:30 PM on Monday, August 16, 2010. While there are dozens of wine competitions around the United States, this is the only competition devoted to the promotion of quality wines made exclusively from cold hardy grape cultivars.

The ICCWC is a result of a feasibility study conducted by the Minnesota Grape Growers Association (MGGA) Board of Directors, and a wonderful partnership between the MGGA, the Minnesota State Fair, and the University of Minnesota (U of M) where several cold hardy wine grapes varieties were developed. Together, these organizations sponsor the “2010 International Cold Climate Wine Competition”.

The success of the 2009 ICCWC and expansion plans for the 2010 competition provide more evidence of the increasing quality of cold climate grapes, said Jim Luby, Professor, U of M Department of Horticultural Science, one of the scientists developing grapes and member of the ICCWC steering committee. “We had a great response from wineries entering the inaugural event in 2009. As the cold climate wine industry keeps expanding, we look forward to even greater geographic diversity of entries and creativity from winemakers.”

The event includes 32 different competition categories, including Riparia, French & American Hybrids, Sparkling, Specialty & Fortified, Non-Grape, and 100% Cold Hardy Grape wines.

Careful consideration is given to judging panels which consist of an equal mix of qualified individuals from the wine media, enologists, restaurateurs and distributors/retailers.

In addition to Double Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, ICCWC judges award three Best of Category wines (red, white, specialty/fortified) and the Minnesota Governor’s Cup Award.

Each entry will consist of 2 bottles regardless of volume. The fee for each entry is $40. For example, a winery entering two wines would send two bottles of each (4 bottles total) at a cost of $80.

All entries are to be shipped to the Minnesota State Fair where they will be kept in air conditioned storage until the competition. Even though the competition focus is on cold hardy varieties, given Minnesota summer weather extremes, entrants are encouraged to ship wines on Monday and Tuesdays to help avoid any potential heat damage from wines sitting in a hot truck or warehouse over a weekend.

Detailed information on entry categories, rules, and shipping instructions is available at the competition web site.

Tagged as: International Cold Climate Wine Competition, Minnesota Grape Growers Association, wine judging

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