Orange County Wine Society opens entries for wine competition
All California wineries, regardless of size, are invited to submit wines
– The Orange County Wine Society, in partnership with the OC Fair, is accepting entries for the 2025 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition. The deadline to enter is May 16.
California wineries are eligible to participate in the competition, now in its 49th year. The event uses a double-blind judging format and is evaluated by winemakers and commercial winery owners. There is no entry fee, and all California wineries, regardless of size, are invited to submit wines.
Wines will be judged within varietal categories and then further evaluated by price range and sugar level. Awards include Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Double Gold Medals. The competition also presents Best of Class awards to the top 20 wines. These awards recognize wines at low, medium, high, and premium price levels across White, Rose, Red, Sparkling, and Dessert wine categories.
More information and entry rules are available at OCWineCompetition.com.
Last year, the competition received 2,518 entries from hundreds of wineries. Organizers report that this year’s event is on track to surpass that number.
The public can view competition results at WineCompetition.com, a searchable website where users can filter award-winning wines by varietal, award level, price category, winery name, and other criteria. Wines entered in the Commercial Wine Competition will also be available for tasting at the OC Fair Wine Courtyard, hosted by the Orange County Wine Society. The fair runs from July 18 through Aug. 17, Wednesday through Sunday. This year’s fair theme is “Find Your Happy.”
In addition to the Commercial Wine Competition, the Orange County Wine Society hosts the OC Fair Home Wine Competition. This event is open to amateur winemakers in California. The deadline to enter the Home Wine Competition is May 23. Details are available at HomeWineCompetition.com.
The Orange County Wine Society is a nonprofit organization that has hosted the OC Fair Commercial and Home Wine competitions for more than 40 years. The organization has over 1,000 members and has donated more than $940,000 in scholarships to eight California institutions with wine-related educational programs.
