Dear Virginia Wineries,
In partnership with the Virginia Wine Board and the Virginia Vineyards Association, we are pleased to bring you the 2016 Virginia Wineries Association’s Governor’s Cup® Competition. For the 4th year in a row, Master of Wines Jay Youmans, will be coordinating the judging for the competition. He is working to compile a group of elite judges for the competition.
As in years past, one of the unique aspects of the Governor’s Cup® Competition, the tasting notes will return. After the competition concludes, tasting notes for each wine entered will be provided to the wineries and Mr. Youmans will lead regional educational forums with the winemakers and vineyard managers of the Governor’s Cup® case wines, sharing what they did that made the wine a winner.
We look forward to a record year of entries into the competition. There is no limit to the number of 100% Virginia Fruit wines, vintage 2010 or younger you may enter. Entering a wine into Governor’s Cup® can be a great marketing tool, as 80% of the wines the Virginia Wine Marketing Office promotes come from the Governor’s Cup® medal list. Winning a medal, being in the case, and being awarded the Governor’s Cup® are all validation for the hard work you do throughout the year.
We continue to encourage wineries to enter your wines online. The VWA Governor’s Cup® Competition is utilizing the Enofile Online System. With Enofile Online, you will be able to enter the information for each wine once and use the information for any other competition that uses Enofile Online. By entering your wine online, you will save $5 per wine. If you choose to mail in your entry, please visit www.vawine.org for an entry form. The entry fee for all wines will be $80 per wine entered online and $85 per entry sent through the mail.
As a reminder, any wine that has been CQA-approved will be permitted to enter the competition at NO CHARGE. The Commonwealth Quality Alliance is a quality standards initiative of the Virginia Wineries Association that works to reward and promote your winery with Virginia-grown wines, which meet international standards and best showcases the Virginia wine industry, in order to garner acclaim both locally and abroad. Wines go through laboratory and sensory analyses. Once they pass these, a 5 cent per bottle marketing fee is paid to CQA, the wine becomes CQA-approved and your winery is marketed as selling wines that “Made the Grade”. These wines are eligible for no charge entry into the Governor’s Cup® Competition. Visit www.cqawine.org for more information.
Wines must be received between November 30 and December 11, 2015. Our preferred shipping partner is FedEx. In the past, there have been issues with UPS dropping the wines off curbside and not delivering them into the Capital Wine School. If FedEx is not already your preferred shipper, we have included information about the FedEx PartnerShip program offered to VWA members. The PartnerShip program offers savings on every size shipment.
In response to the call for white wines to be represented in the Governor’s Cup® Case, a change has been made to the Case, the 12 wines with the highest average score. If the 12 top-scoring wines do not include 1/3 of the minority wine (red/white), then the case will be made to have 4 wines or 1/3 of the minority wine (red/white) as long as they were awarded gold medals. The wine with the highest overall score will be the Governor’s Cup® Winner. As always, we will not disclose scores or ranking of wines, so only medals awarded and case winners will be disclosed.
Plan to be at the Governor’s Cup Gala with your award winning wine Monday, February 22, 2016 to see the Governor’s Cup® be awarded to the winning winery. All Gold medal winners will be notified the week of February 8th, please have the point of contact you provide with your entry to available that week to discuss the requirements and information needed for the Gala less than 2 weeks later.
Please see the rules and guidelines below. Please feel free to contact the VWA office if you have any questions. We look forward to your participation this year.
Best of Luck to all!
Virginia Wineries Association
Here are a few rules and reminders:
1. To enter online, https://enofileonline.com/landing.aspx?competitionid=259; we also have a link from our website, www.vawine.org/governors-cup/. From this page, you will be able to register for Enofile Online and begin entering the data for the wines you will be submitting. Wines will be accepted November 30 – December 11, 2015. All online entries, payment and wine must be received by December 11, 2015. Any entry that is received after December 11, 2015 will be rejected. Entries that are entered online will be $80 per entry; entries whose paperwork and payment are mailed to our offices in N. Chesterfield will be $85 per entry.
2. Wines and ciders submitted to the competition must be made with 100% Virginia fruit. You will attest to this when you enter your wine, certifying your entries meet this criterion.
3. Fruit wines & ciders may be entered in the Governor’s Cup competition; however, they are not eligible to be included in the Governor’s Cup Case.
4. There is a 50 case minimum to enter the Governor’s Cup. This means that the winery must have 50 cases of the wine available for retail sales at the time of award (February 22, 2016). The competition and Governor’s Cup Case winners will be promoted to the public. This case minimum was set to ensure that consumers will have a chance to purchase these wines.
5. All wineries that produce a wine that makes the Governor’s Cup Case, the top 12 wines, will agree to sell 10 cases of that wine at $200 per case to be used for marketing purposes.
6. The winners of the Governor’s Cup Case agree to pour the award winning wine during the Gala Event on February 22, 2016.
7. All vintage wines submitted must be vintage year 2010 or younger.
8. Any submitted wine that receives an award must be released to the public by February 22, 2016.
9. Send wines with a copy of the packing slip from Enofile. Mark boxes “For Analysis Only – Not for Resale”. Detailed mailing information is at the bottom of the attached form.
10. We prefer you ship Fed Ex for ease of delivery to Jay.
11. Any wine that is delivered to the competition without a full and proper label will be disqualified from the judging. Please do not send wines with laboratory, temporary, photocopied or altered labels.
12. Source of grapes will be collected – please include Vineyard name and location for each varietal in the wine blend.
13. VWA is permitted to use and collect the data provided on the entry form.
14. Wineries may enter as many wines as you wish.
15. Make sure residual sugar is entered as a percentage.
1025 Boulders Parkway, Suite 110 N. Chesterfield, VA 23225
Phone (804) 592-3196 Fax (804) 644-8762 Email
www.vawine.org