About Ultimate Wine Challenge
Ultimate Wine Challenge
June 3-7, 2013
Astor Center, New York City
- Mission: To ascertain which wine brands taste the best in a flight of peers, using a multistage judging process. Operated and supervised by Judging Chairmen F. Paul Pacult and Sean Ludford, and Special Advisors to UWC Doug Frost, MS, MW and Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, MW.
- Chairman of Judging: F. Paul Pacult: educator/author/journalist, publisher of F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal & founding partner of BAR LLC.
- Assistant Chairman of Judging: Sean Ludford: editor BevX on-line newsletter.
Ultimate Wine Challenge judging format – How it works
Entered wines are served in flights of similar wines by category and classification and served in glassware that is most appropriate to the specific type and at proper temperatures. Multiple 3-person panels are formed for the first round. All wines are served blind to judges in flights of no more than 10 wines. Each panel evaluates scores, discusses and moves on to the next wine. All wines scoring 90 or more points automatically moves into the next round. The highest scoring wine in each category wins the coveted “Chairman’s Trophy” from amongst the Finalists.
All wines are served “blind” to judges in appropriate high quality crystal glassware (sparkling in flutes, etc.) and are served at the right service temperature. No more than 10-wine flights are served to judging panels at any time and no more than six flights are served on any given judging day for the crucial purpose allowing the judges to maintain proper concentration and focus.
UBC provides the ideal environment at state-of-the-art Astor Center in New York in order to obtain the most even-handed and authoritative results for every wine entered.
Ultimate Wine Challenge Scoring Procedures
Products whose aggregate scores are from 95-100 will be cited with “Extraordinary/Ultimate Recommendation”; those with aggregate scores of 90-94 will be cited with the designation “Excellent/Highly Recommended”; those with aggregate scores between 85-89 will be cited with the designation “Very Good/Strongly Recommended”; and those with aggregate scores between 80-84 will be cited as “Good/Recommended”.