Selecting the Finalists

Every year in September, 10 Finalists are chosen by The Wine Society Tasting Panel, from the collection of nominations. Following selection, these 10 Finalists compete for 3 prestigious accolades:

A detailed breakdown of how these 10 Finalists are chosen can be found below.

  1. Winemakers are restricted to entering three Australian wines OR three New Zealand wines. No nominee may enter wines from both nations.

  2. The Wine Society Professional Tasting Panel will judge all nominees’ wines on Thursday, 4 September & Friday, 5 September 2008 according to the Australian Show Judging System.

  3. The scores attained by the wines from each nominee will be added together to form a total.

  4. The lowest scoring wine from each winemaker will be subtracted from their total.

  5. The two winemakers from each nation with the highest totals will automatically qualify as finalists.

  6. In the event of a tie the winemaker/s with the highest score for their three wines combined will be considered a finalist.

  7. Should #6 fail to produce a result the winemaker with the single highest scoring wine will be given preference.

  8. The remaining six finalists will be comprised of the winemakers with the six highest scores outside of the four automatic qualifiers.

  9. In the event of a tie the winemaker(s) with the highest score for their three wines combined will be considered a finalist.

  10. Should #9 fail to produce a result the number of finalists will be expanded to accommodate all participants vying for the lowest qualifying position.