Wines Competition

[Old un]

I want to enter a wine competition, the classes are

Table White 10 %. Alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?
Table Red 10 %. Alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?

Sweet White 13 %. Plus alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?
Sweet Red 13 %. Plus alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?

Table red and Sweet red is the only information given?

[NorthernWiner]

So this competition categorizes entries based on color, percent alcohol, and whether or not they are sweet? That's interesting.

Color, I understand.

Sweet or dry, I understand - though it would be certainly helpful if they defined what level of residual sugar constitutes "sweet." What tastes sweet to one, may taste off-dry to another.

But, percent alcohol... that I don't get. I've never seen ABV% used as criteria for classification. In my (admittedly limited) mind, alcohol level should not be a factor. Either a wine is balanced correctly for the amount of alcohol, or it isn't.

But hey ho, what do I know.

[Richard S]

Don't worry TOO much about the exact % of alcahol, the wine needs to be in balance. The level of sweetness you can go to depends on what the wine is made from, the level of alcohol and the acidity. It is difficult to give you a specific hydrometer reading to aim for, I sweeten wines to taste.

A wine number 1 can be sweetened to medium dry (barely detectable sweetness) to medium without too much trouble but going to a higher level of sweetness on this simple wine may be too much and the wine may taste flabby (out of balance due to overpowering sweetness).

Lychee wine can go to full sweetness due to the amount of acid and level of flavour.

Level of sweetness is a subjective area as Steve touched on, one man's medium may be another man's sweet but this is something that wine judges accross our region are currently working on.

I have sweetened some of the more complex kit wines to medium and sweet and had success in competition.

Which competition is it you are refering to?

[lockwood1956]

I want to enter a wine competition, the classes are

Table White 10 %. Alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?
Table Red 10 %. Alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?

Sweet White 13 %. Plus alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?
Sweet Red 13 %. Plus alcohol or there abouts but what finished SG?

Table red and Sweet red is the only information given?

Table red and table white should normally be fiollowed by either dry, medium dry, medium, medium sweet or sweet, those are the categories used in the UK judging system.

if it is dry, then it needs to contain no sugar (0.990) if it is medium then it needs to be 1.000 to 1.010 sweet would be 1.020+

for table white the permitted alc content is 9 to 13%
for table red the permitted alc content is up to 14%

balance is always the key...


more detail (from the UK judges handbook)

http://www.ngwbj.org.uk/table.html

hope that helps

regards
Bob

[Old un]

The competition is a Caravan Club National Rally

Full Details


HOME-MADE WINE COMPETITION
There will be four Classes: -

Class A - Red Dry Table Wine Class C - White Dry Table Wine
Class B - Red Sweet Wine Class D - White Sweet Wine
RULES
(a) Only one bottle per Class may be entered by each Competitor.
(b) Entries to be made on the Form in the Instruction Booklet.
(c) Entries to be handed in to the Activities Marquee between 12.45pm, and 1.15pm on Sunday 30 May 2010.
Judging will take place at 1.30pm.
(d) There will be no entry fee.
(e) Wines must be presented in a clear bottle, filled to within one inch of the cork, with a white flanged cork and no label or
form of identification.
(f) A numbered label - supplied by the Organisers - will be fixed to the competitor's bottle before the judging.
(g) Competitors are not permitted to attend the judging.
(h) There will be three certificates for each Class where recommended by the Judges. Prizegiving will be as shown in the Rally
Programme.
(i) Competitors are asked to collect bottles not later than 4.30pm on the day of judging, (j) All entries will be on display at 3.30pm in the Activities Marquee prior to prize giving at 4.00pm on Sunday 30

No other information was given

[lockwood1956]

Class A - Red Dry Table Wine Class C - White Dry Table Wine
Class B - Red Sweet Wine Class D - White Sweet Wine

classes A & C need to comform to fairly strict colour guidelines as outlined in previous post and need to be Dry i.e. no residual sugar, which means SG 0.990, some federation judges will accept dry as being below 1.000.....National judges wont accept 1.000 as dry, it would be regarded as off dry or even bordering on medium.

Classes B & D need to be red, or white but not a strict colour restriction as a "table" wine and need to be sweet ..i.e. SG above 1.020 and as high as 1.060

hope that helps
Regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

Class C must comform to these rules
WHITE TABLE WINE - DRY
Pale colour is desirable; there should be no brown or pink tone.
The wine should taste dry, without easily recognisable sweetness. The flavour should be pleasant, with no bitter after-taste, and should give an impression of freshness, leaving the mouth clean.
Alcohol content may be between 8.5% and 13%, with acidity between 0.5% and 0.8%. It is most important for this type of wine that the bouquet should be clean, fresh and vinous.
Commercial examples would be white Burgundy, Alsace and dry Loire wines such as Muscadet and Sancerre.

Class A must comform to these rules
RED TABLE WINE - DRY
The colour should mainly be red, but tints of purple or black are acceptable, as are tints of tawny (often found in older wines).
The wine must be dry, i.e. without easily recognisable sweetness.
The flavour can be substantial and should remain in the after-taste.
Some astringency from tannins is expected, with some mellowness and maturity desirable.
The bouquet should be complex and vinous. Acidity should be between 0.45% and 0.65%, and the alcohol from 10% to 14%.
There are many commercial examples such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja, etc.

[Old un]

Thank You Lockwood

[lockwood1956]

you are most welcome

[Old un]

All though I have taken prizes in my local wine club I could never get a place in the caravan club wine competition.

For the first time ever in a Caravan club wine competition, I took 2 Highly Commended, and one runner-up [2nd]

No bad 3 out of 4 bottles.