Home Winemaking: The moment of truth part 2...

There have been many pandemic-related delays to the judging in this competition which has meant a roller coaster of anticipation for me. Finally, this past Friday night, almost 6 months since I entered the competition, I received an email with the results of the competition. To start the email off, there was the reminder that this was the largest, international competition of its kind. They had over 2,500 entries from 6 countries to consider for awards. It felt like, "don't get your hopes up" to me...

A quick scan of the categories I entered (Riesling, Zinfandel and Syrah) revealed what I had prepared myself for - Riesling... nope (and dang, I think mine is a really great effort), Zinfandel... no joy (maybe it was a little too lean and smokey although I think it's a gorgeous wine), Syrah... can't even find a Syrah category so it must be in "other reds"... and nada. I couldn't find my name. Better luck next year.

As I zoomed back out (I was looking on my phone) I caught site of the Syrah category header - no idea how I missed it before. I scanned the awards and was amazed and overjoyed to see my name listed for a bronze medal. I've been an amateur wine maker for 11 years and I've never entered my wines into competition because, let's face it, there is a LOT of great wine out there and a LOT of talented winemakers. I'm humbled to be named among the noteworthy.