The cost of entry is $40 per entry for PWA dues paying members and $50 for nonmembers. If you

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1 December 19, 2018 Dear Pennsylvania Wineries, The PWA is happy to announce the 2019 Pennsylvania Wine Competition. This year s Pennsylvania Wine Competition will be held on February 2, The results will be announced during the PWA Annual Meeting at the Awards Banquet on March 4, This will be the fifteenth year that the PWA has contracted with Amenti del Vino (ADV), a professionally run, well-organized and respected wine competition firm to conduct our annual wine contest. The highest scoring wine selected from the double gold winners will receive best of show recognition and be awarded the Keystone Wine Cups to showcase at your winery. Awarded will be two Keystone Cups, one will be awarded to the highest scoring wine in the dry category and one will be awarded to the highest scoring wine from the remaining three categories. Please note that your winery may enter up to twelve different varieties, vintages or types of wine. Two bottles [750 ML or 1.5 L] are required for each entry. Three bottles [375 ML or 500 ML] are required for each entry of late harvest and ice wine. The cost of entry is $40 per entry for PWA dues paying members and $50 for nonmembers. If you wish to become a PWA member please submit dues payment to the PWA by Monday, January 28, Wine Competition entries are due by Monday, January 28, Please make all checks payable to Pennsylvania Winery Association. Please review the attached notes and considerations for the competition. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Wine Competition Co-Chairs, Jason Reimer and Larry Kennel. We look forward to receiving your entries. Sincerely, Jason Reimer and Larry Kennel Pennsylvania Wine Competition Co-Chairs

2 2019 Pennsylvania Wine Competition The 2019 Pennsylvania Wine Competition will be conducted by Amenti del Vino. We will be awarding TWO KEYSTONE CUPS! One will be awarded to the highest scoring wine in the Dry category while the other will be awarded to the highest scoring wine from the remaining three categories. With over twenty-five years of experience in organizing national, international and eastern wine competitions, Amenti del Vino offers a minimum of three qualified judges for each wine. Each wine will be studied thoroughly and appropriately. Additionally, scoring sheets will be available for each wine entered. Award-winning wines will be evaluated by the Pennsylvania Wine Quality Initiative tasting panel. The panel will be checking the wines for faults. Conditions of Competition: 1. The competition is open to any Pennsylvania Limited Winery with a Bonded Winery or Bonded Wine Cellar permit. All wines entered must be legally able to be labeled as Pennsylvania Wines under TTB regulations (at least 75% of wine per bottle submitted to the competition must be PA fruit). 2. Wines entered must be commercially available for sale, or if not yet introduced, have been bottled and will be available for sale within 30 days following the judging. All wines entered must be made in lots larger than 100 gallons, with the exception of Ice Wines, as described under TTB regulations. 3. A winery may enter up to twelve (12) different varieties, vintages or types of wine. Two (2) bottles [750 ml or 1.5 L] are required for each entry. Three (3) bottles [375 ml or 500 ml] are required for each entry of late harvest and ice wine. 4. As we will be awarding a Keystone Cup for the highest scoring wine in the dry category it is imperative that all wines entered into that category consist of wines that are less that.6% residual sugar. Any wines above.6% residual sugar that are entered into the dry category will be disqualified. 5. Enter the following category numbers (all that apply) for each wine entered on the entry form. Following is the description of sugar levels. Please identify the appropriate Sugar Level for each entry on the entry form. Identify the letter corresponding to the correct sugar level for each wine entered. 1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A Red Vinifera, Varietal Red Vinifera, Non Varietal White Vinifera, Varietal White Vinifera, Non- Varietal Red Hybrid, Varietal Red Hybrid, Non-Varietal White Hybrid Varietal White Hybrid, Non-Varietal Red Native, Varietal Red Native, Non-Varietal White Native, Varietal White Native, Non-Varietal Rosé/ Blush, Varietal Rosé/ Blush, Non-Varietal Fruit Wine, Varietal 8B Fruit Wine, Non- Varietal 8C Fruit, Cider 8D Fruit, Mead 9A Sparkling (Champagne) 9B Carbonated 10A Dessert Wine, Port 10B Dessert Wine, Sherry 10C Dessert, Ice Wine 10D Dessert, Late Harvest 10E Dessert, Other 11A Interspecific Blend, Red 11B Interspecific Blend, White 11C Interspecific Blend, Rosé 12 Formula Wine 13 Agricultural Products Other Than Grapes & Fruit Interspecific Blend Class Definition: A blend of two different species of Genus Vitis Sugar Levels: A. Dry 0 to 0.6% sugar B. Off-Dry 0.6 to 1.5% sugar C. Semi-Sweet 1.5 to 3.0% sugar D. Sweet 3% or higher sugar PLEASE NOTE: Sugar scale is based on the residual sugar scale, not brix (specific gravity). It is very important to enter the correct sweetness level of your wine to ensure the best possible score for your entry. Wines that are found to be miscategorized according to sweetness level will be disqualified.

3 6. The fee for wine entries will be $40.00 per entry for PWA members and $50.00 for non-members. The cut-off date to be considered as a dues paid member of the PWA, for this competition, will be Monday, January 28 th, The PWA will be responsible for certifying the decision on timely payment of dues. If you wish to become a dues paying member please contact the PWA at pwa@pennsylvaniawine.com. 7. Wines submitted to the competition must be shipped FRIEGHT PREPAID to: Amenti del Vino 45 Brightman Circle South Windsor, CT Phone: (860) PLEASE WRITE SAMPLES ONLY: NOT FOR RESALE ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX. DO NOT INCLUDE APPLICATIONS IN THE SAME BOX AS THE WINE SAMPLES SEND THE APPLICATIONS SEPARATELY. 8. Complete an Application Form. The Application Form must be mailed separate from the wine samples to Amenti del Vino at the above address. 9. A check for the entry fee and a copy of the Application Form should be sent to the Pennsylvania Winery Association, 411 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, PA Wine Competition participants must be willing, upon request, to sell to the PWA any gold/silver medal winning wines at the current PWA wholesale rate. 11. Entries are due by Monday, January 28 th, 2019.

4 Assumptions about the Pennsylvania Wine Competition 1. To be held yearly at a time to permit presentation of the awards at the annual meeting. 2. Open to Bonded Wineries or Bonded Wine Cellars in Pennsylvania. 3. Entries must be able to be designated as Pennsylvania Wines under federal labeling regulations. 4. No person who has a financial interest in any Pennsylvania Winery may take part in the actual wine judging operation or have any way to influence the results. The wine competition committee of the PWA Board of Directors is responsible for selecting a person or persons to run the actual competition. That person or persons will conduct the competition at a suitable site, secure judges and other staff, to communicate to judges their charge to fairly score the entered wines and to insure the wines are judged in a manner that the judges will not know whose wines they taste. Further the Tasting Chairman (or chairmen) will collect and accurately record the results. 5. The Chairman or his designee will present the information to the association at the Award Ceremony at the Annual Meeting Banquet, but not before. 6. The charge to the committee has been to conduct a fair and competent judging and do so without having to draw additional funds from the PWA Treasury. 7. Following are some of the goals for the competition: a. Make wine consumers aware of the wines and wineries in Pennsylvania and the range of wines, which are available by publicizing the results of the competition. b. Reward wineries that excel with any of their wines in the competition with publicity about such excellence, which they can then use as a marketing tool. c. Help in promoting the image of our entire industry as one of quality. d. Provide feedback to the entrants about the excellence or lack thereof and in the latter case to help in pinpointing production weaknesses to help in upgrading future production. e. To help in selecting wines which may be purchased for a PWA Wine Bank in the future by accepting wines that win medals, as being qualified for purchase without further screening. f. Promote consistently improving quality amongst Pennsylvania wines. Competition Committee Co-Chairs: Jason Reimer (717) Larry Kennel (717)

5 PA Wine Competition Considerations The PA Wine Competition committee continues to focus on keeping the competition fair and equitable to all wineries in the Commonwealth which produce a very wide range of wine varietals and types. We continue to monitor the submissions and awards to assess the balance of recognition given for such a diverse population of wine makers. We feel that given the challenges to judging a dry wine verses a sweet wine that all categories are fairly represented in both the number of entries and number of awards. For the past few years we decided to include submissions for mead and hard ciders within the Fruit Wine category and will do so again for the 2019 competition. The current awards given are as follows: SWEET BEST SWEET WINE IN COMPETTION BEST WHITE SWEET WINE BEST RED SWEET WINE BEST FRUIT WINE DRY BEST DRY WINE IN COMPETITION BEST WHITE DRY WINE BEST RED DRY WINE Things to keep in mind when submitting wines to competitions: A. Many wines are improved by blending even just a slight bit of another varietal. While this is a standard industry practice and perfectly legal, sometimes we are reluctant or forget to disclose all ingredients on the entry forms. It is very helpful for the judges to be informed of any blending done to your wines, even if they are not required to be disclosed on the bottle label. It will help a judge make a better more informed decision. B. Bottling of wine should not be done just prior to submission. All wines will need time in the bottle to overcome any bottle shock. The appropriate amount of time will vary by varietal and type. Please take this into consideration when selecting your wines for competition. It can and does make a big difference in the judging process. C. Identifying accurate residual sugar amounts in order to properly classify your wines. Please review your current calculations to insure they are as close as possible to the true amount. Remember that use of a hydrometer is not an accurate way to measure residual sugar or sugar additions. Please include your residual sugar concentration using g/l unit designations. With proper measurements, the judges can then focus on the other criteria when judging your wines. D. All wines entered must be designated as a Pennsylvania Wine pursuant to the Federal Labeling Requirements. Any wines that would not meet the requirement or are labeled American or other AVAs will be disqualified.

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