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The New York wine industry has grown explosively not only in terms of quantity of wineries (now at 363 and counting), but also in terms of wine quality--which is even more important for earning recognition and respect in the highly competitive world of wine.
But how are people to know about the incredible quality?
I can tell everyone--and do, proudly--but that's my job so people expect that from me and may doubt my credibility as a result. We can hold many massive tastings so people can experience the quality firsthand--but that is very expensive and time-consuming. We can hope that individual tasters at consumer wine magazines rate New York wines 90 or above, and that consumers actually read them and care.
Or we can focus on wine competitions, which essentially overcome these issues by providing independent, comparative, third-party evaluations by a group of wine experts tasting hundreds of wines for context.
We (the New York Wine & Grape Foundation) have for years sponsored a highly successful "Wine Competitions" program to promote the New York wine industry. We pay 25% of entry fees, making competitions more affordable for wineries; get New York results right away; quickly issue a Wine Press which goes to over 5,500 people worldwide; and post the Gold medals and above in the "Awards and Accolades" section of www.newyorkwines.org. There are hundreds of Gold medals there right now, searchable by winery, type of wine, or competition--a perfect shopping list for wine lovers.
In addition, I judge in about a dozen major competitions a year at which I can spread the word about New York wines to a very influential group of wine industry professionals. I recently judged at Pacific Rim, this week will taste at Riverside, followed by the Los Angeles International--all major competitions where New York wines traditionally shine.
New York makes about 3% of all American wine, and 0.2% of all wine in the world. We're tiny! But the awareness of New York wines and their reputation is enormous compared with those figures. Part of the reason is certainly our wineries' success in wine competitions--and our ability to spread the word.
But don't take my word for it: Here's the opinion of California wine journalist Dan Berger, who organizes several wine competitions and judges in many more; this is from the latest edition of his Vintage Experiences newsletter (www.VintageExperiences.com):
"Wineries that regularly enter wine competitions probably do so because they have seen the benefit of using medals won as a marketing tool.
"The reasons are obvious. First of all, I view wine competition results as a lot more valid than the 'see the label, know the price, rank the wine' concept employed by most critics who score wines by number.
"Wine competitions use blind evaluation, which makes the entire idea more competitive. Moreover, instead of a judge ranking a wine in a vacuum, the medals typically are achieved by both discussion with other judges and by comparing various wines of a similar type, none of which is known to any of the panelists.
"But there is an additional benefit that accrues to wineries as a result of entering wine competitions: getting their wines in front of gatekeepers.
"Simply getting an appointment with the wine buyer for a major retail chain, upscale restaurant, or high-end wine shop is a near impossibility thse days. Such people are typically so busy that many have unlisted phone numbers and do not take appointments to try new wines.
"I was a judge at the recent Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge. Also judging was the wine buyer for one restaurant chain that has more than 200 restaurants.
"She said competitions can be a good way of trying 100 or more wines without knowing the price or label--which she said was a valid way to purchase wine. That is, 'If quality is your goal, not just a label with an image.'
"I discover more interesting wines at competitions than I do anywhere else."
In short, it's clear: "If you don't enter, you can't win."
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