Behind the Scenes - HV Wine Competition

I thought I'd give you a behind the scenes look at what goes into a wine competition here in the Hudson Valley. Months prior to the competition, a letter went out to about 25 wineries in the Hudson Valley. The wines intered in the competition need to be made with 100% NY State Grapes preferably grapes grown in the Hudson Valley. There were 80 entries from approximately 15 Hudson Valley Wineries.

After collecting the various entries and unpacking them. My dining room looked like this. Wine was arranged according to flight and judges.Left hand side of table were Judges on the X panel; the right Judges on the Y panel. Head and foot of table were all taste.

Next was time to take the capsules off the wine and put the labels on wine and bottles. Colleen and I enlisted the help of my daughter Melanie and her friend Nicole. It's good to put to teenagers to work on a Friday night. They received quite an education on wine as well. Look for them as future Sommeliers.
Then Colleen and I had to bag each of the bottles and pack them for transport in the morning. We were up quite late and I got quite cranky. Thanks for putting up with my crankiness Col.

Arriving at Terrapin Restaurant in Rhinebeck a good 30 minute ride, we unpacked and set up.










Let the judging begin. All judges arrived on time, however we did have a no show. Chris Carbone the Beverage Manager for Terrapin was nowhere to be found. We started and proceeded without him. Let the Judging Begin!










There are many things we do "back stage" like tallying the scores, getting ready for the next flight, drying glasses etc. I will post the official winners later this week.


I would like to thank all the judges for taking time from their Saturday to Judge this competition. We had a great panel and I hope to see you all there again next year.