The goal of the Sommeliers Choice Awards is to provide on-premise buyers and sommeliers a valuable benchmark for understanding which wines would make a compelling addition to a wine list.

When you look at the US wine market today, one thing is clear: there’s lots of noise. A huge variety of domestic and internationally-produced wine is clamoring for attention. And variety is the key word: there’s California Chardonnay, for example, or natural wines from Greece; there are inky reds from the Barossa Valley and the fashionable breed of pluggable, strawberry-scented Beaujolais, to name just a few of the wine world’s many mouthwatering options. In truth, wine has never been so diverse and confusing. 

Given the noise, how do you get the attention of savvy sommeliers? The best way is the Sommeliers Choice Awards (SCA). The SCA is specifically designed to recognize those wines that would make a compelling addition to any wine list, so it’s where sommeliers and wine buyers look first when they’re aiming to shake things up.

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"The thing that I like the most about Sommeliers Choice Awards is the intention behind it. There are so many different types of competitions and judging these days to certify and sometimes that can become confusing for end consumers. So what I like about this is you get a very core group of judges in a room that a winery can go to the trade and say 'Hey your peers are the ones who rated this wine' as opposed to some other people your buyers may not know. If I were a trade buyer and I was told the wines were judged by master sommeliers and these sommeliers, I would trust that score in the buying process more." - Jon McDaniel

As an added value to the Sommeliers Choice Awards entrants, category winners will also get video testimonials from top judges along with product showcase videos in 2024. Here are some examples of the videos. Brands can use them in their marketing to grow on-premise sales and show the video to other trade buyers.

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In this interview, Scott Barber shares his insights on what sets the Sommeliers Choice Awards apart from other wine competitions and how brands can use SCA medals in growing sales.

In this video Scott shares, what spiel you can use when pitching the restaurants, how to story tell your win, and how to connect judges of sommelier's choice awards to your potential restaurant buyers. 

“If you go in a restaurant and explain to them the criteria your wine has won on, and who are the judges of Sommeliers Choice Awards - I think that's a very powerful thing. In Sommeliers Choice Awards you get score breakdown, sharing the score where you did well in each category can also help you” - Scott Barber

The 2024 Sommeliers Choice Awards submission is now open for international and domestic brands. Brands can learn more about the judges, judging process, and benefits here. Brands are encouraged to enter the wines before the early bird deadline of January 31, 2024, if looking to save.