Competition

The judging panel for the 2025 competition consists of professional and accredited wine judges, accredited by either the Society of Wine Educators or the Court of Master Sommeliers. This event is not open to the general public.

When there are fewer than three entries per category, the wines may be moved to different appropriate categories. Any placement in, or removal from a category will be at the discretion of the Head Judge. Judging by vintage, price, region, etc. will be at the discretion of the Head Judge.

If the judges are faced with an obviously flawed bottle of wine, no more than one additional bottle of the same entry will be opened and tasted.

Wines with more than 0.3% residual sugar (r.s.) must have the percent listed on the entry form. Wines entered in categories defined by r.s. must list the percent on the entry form.

The tasting order of entries is set in our database first by panel, then category and finally by residual sugar. Large categories are randomly split by the database so that no panel is asked to taste more than 60 wines in the same category.

The Hilton Head Wine and Food Festival International Wine Competition awards will be made on a merit basis by a majority vote. The judges are instructed to grant no awards when, in their opinion, the wines are unworthy, and they are empowered to grant duplicate awards if the quality of wines so merits. Judges are asked to evaluate the wines in silence until all panel members have finished their evaluation. Judge votes are recorded by a moderator. If there is a significant difference among the judges’ votes, panelists are encouraged to reach a consensus.

Wines are presented to judges in coded glasses. No wine bottles are visible to judges at any time until the competition is finished. Moderators and Back Room Volunteers are instructed to avoid discussing any wine brand names entered or not in the competition. The decision of the judges is final and no changes are made to awards after the judging is complete. Judges receive a copy of the code sheets of the wines they judged with awards noted so they are able to compare our records with their notes from the judging.

The award-winning wine recipients will be announced publicly on March 3, 2025 and will be listed in the program at the 2025 Wine & Food Festival and Silent Wine Auction.