There’s always a new discovery waiting on the tasting panel.
The role of a wine judge is to evaluate and find the best wines among those presented. In the course of this analytic journey, however, magic can happen. Wine Industry Advisor reached out to a few seasoned wine judging professionals to find out what it’s like on their side of the table.
Peg San Felippo has been judging wine competitions for 18 years. A freelance wine and spirits writer (for City & Shore magazine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., among others), San Felippo came to the task through happenstance. “A sommelier friend of mine was going to be judging in a national competition and, two days before the event, someone canceled. My friend recommended me to fill the vacancy, and the co-founders — who were familiar with my wine writing — invited me.”
Stephanie Trotter Zacharia, director of sales for Tedeschi Family Winery in Calistoga, Calif., similarly came to the competition arena through a professional connection. “I met someone who worked at a competition and was asked [to judge] based on my position in the wine industry.” Zacharia, who is also proprietor/winemaker for her own award-winning Trotter 1/16 brand, continues, “I became a judge to experience the finest wines a variety of regions are producing [depending on the competition parameters] and to participate in the marketing and promotion of the vast varieties of wines being sold.”
Debra Del Fiorentino, founder and owner of Wine & Spirits Competitions Management and Production (WSCMP), says a good judge needs to be open minded and objective.
“There shouldn’t be an agenda when judging wine or spirits,” she says. “It’s important to let the entries express themselves in the glass.”
Sense of discovery
Just as wine competition results can lead consumers to new discoveries, the same holds true for judges, who are often introduced to regions, winemakers and wine styles that they might not have experienced previously.
“There hasn’t been a single competition I’ve come away from where I didn’t look into specific wineries or growing regions that I tasted there,” says San Felippo, who is also special event director for the Milwaukee Public Market (which was voted the Best Public Market in America in 2024 and 2025).
“I’ve featured [many of these newfound wines] in articles over the years. The initial discoveries often lead to additional stories about other changes, expansions and innovations happening in winemaking and at wineries.”
Zacharia concurs: “[Judging] increases my experience with new varietals and regions. This exposure enhances my points of reference and deepens my perspective when discussing wine.”
Wine competitions offer a platform for wineries to compare their wines against others, which can also prove valuable to winemakers sitting on the panels. “As a winemaker, evaluating so many wines in a sitting helps decrease my cellar palate and helps me think more objectively about my own wines,” says Zacharia.
Finding treasures
Despite some outside perceptions, wine competitions aren’t about celebrating high-end cult entries. Instead, wine scores and medals can guide consumers in selecting wines that offer good value and/or excellent quality.
As someone whose opinion influences her readers’ wine choices, San Felippo enjoys “Tasting wines from new and upcoming wineries and regions that aren’t as well-known, and discovering terrific wine under $30 — which happens more often than you think.”
Judges’ comments can provide valuable feedback to producers and offer a sense of how their wines rank in the broader market. By trusting the process and entering a wine competition, brands are “giving their wines exposure to a wide variety of wine professionals that may know nothing about the winery and what they produce,” says San Felippo.
She offers an example: “At one of the competitions I was judging, there was a small producer who entered an exceptional red blend. At the end of the day, one of the judges on my panel — who was a buyer for a large national liquor store chain — asked for the name of that winery. He contacted the winery the next day and bought the majority of the wine to be sold at his stores.”
Of course, that doesn’t always happen. But both judges interviewed for this story see wine competitions as a powerful marketing tool.
Zacharia, who regularly enters her own wines for evaluation, says she feels a responsibility to provide thoughtful feedback to her fellow entrants. “Testimonials from qualified experts can verify wine quality for potential customers who may not have confidence in their own palate and/or haven’t had the opportunity to taste a wine before purchase,” she says.
“Competitions can help expand a winery’s business,” affirms San Felippo. “Winning a medal at a competition gives consumers more confidence to buy their wines, and being able to promote wines as ‘award winning’ helps increase tasting room visits.”
At the end of the day, wine competitions are just another marketing tool — one with proven results and limitless potential.
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Both Peg San Felippo and Stephanie Trotter Zacharia will be among the esteemed panel of judges at WSCMP’s upcoming Sunset International Wine Competition, which takes place June 10-12, 2025. Deadline for entry is May 22.
