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KdV Wine Services

The Governor’s Wine Showcase of New Jersey

in conjunction with

The Garden State Wine Growers Association and KdV Wine Services

The Governor’s Wine Showcase of New Jersey is a dynamic new event, the first of its kind, created to showcase the best wines New Jersey has to offer. This event, which has replaced the New Jersey Governor’s Cup Wine Competition, will be conducted in a new and innovative manner. Each winery may submit up to six wines to be evaluated in a blind format by an expert international panel of judges. The wines that reach a predetermined minimum score or higher will be invited to be a part of the Governor’s Showcase, which will be featured annually at the Governor’s Mansion. The Showcase wines will also be honored at various events to be held throughout the 12 months following the judging. For every wine submitted, the winery will receive tasting notes, sent to each winery in confidence.

The non-biased judges selected for this showcase are all pre-screened and are experts in their fields. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and will provide professional feedback to aid the wineries in their future quality winemaking endeavors, should they choose to apply them.

The mission of the showcase is to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in winemaking among wines produced in New Jersey.

It aims to establish and solidify New Jersey’s reputation as a premier destination for quality wine.

Why participate?

As a participant, you will receive:

  • Marketing and Promotional Opportunities surrounding the Showcase Events
  • The Governor’s Showcase designated wines will be available to help the Secretary of Agriculture as he chooses his “Secretary Showcase Selection” wines, providing additional opportunities.
  • Your winery and Showcase wines will be featured at the New Jersey Wine Expo, reaching over 1000 consumers, including NJ Wine Expo marketing and promotional outreach
  • Showcase wines will be featured at the Governor’s Mansion events
  • Exposure at the Eastern Winery Exposition
  • Winery room display trophies or medals, and bottle sticker sales incentives will be available
  • For the wines that fail to qualify for the Showcase, GSWGA will offer referrals to professional wine making consultants and sponsor quarterly wine tech meetings and additional resources.

As a bonus, the Professional Wine Judges will provide participants with:

  • Social Media Presence from the judges’ professional networks
  • The prospect of additional promotional opportunities from the judges’ professional networks
  • The Judges, all experts in their fields, will provide constructive feedback for improvements

Wineries can submit up to six wines (3 bottles of each) in the various categories below, to be judged on their own merit.

  • Hybrid/hybrid blend White
  • Hybrid/hybrid blend
  • Hybrid/Vinifera Blend
  • Hybrid/Vinifera
  • Vinifera White (Varietal or blend)
  • Vinifera Red (Varietal or blend)
  • Sparkling (off dry to brut +)
  • Sparkling Orange/Amber
  • Sweet/Dessert/non-Fortified
  • Coeur d’Est
  • Other/non-grape Still or Sparkling Mead, Perry, Cider, Vermouth, etc.
  • Indigenous/blend White
  • Red Indigenous/blend Red
  • White Still Rose
  • Blend Red Fruit
  • Fruit/grape blend
  • Fortified
  • Sparkling Rose
  • Still Orange/ Amber
  • Sparkling Sweet/Dessert non-fortified
The Governor’s Wine Showcase of New Jersey

There are a variety of sponsorship opportunities also available.

See the Garden State Wine Growers Website for more information, or click on link below:

The Garden State Wine Growers Association – GSWGA