Winner of Winery of the Year 2023 and Art of Wine will again come from 25 nominated wineries

The largest number of nominated wineries was in the medium-sized category (11), followed by small wineries (10) and the list of candidates for the title is rounded off by four large wineries.

"We have 25 wineries that have entered and met the conditions of the competition. This is the same number of wineries as last year, and I am pleased that every year there are a number of newch that have worked hard over the past few years to decide that now is the time to go to market. And I mean that skin literally. Because it's not enough for us just to have a superior result, a perfectly prepared wine. This is what the jury and the committee consider to be the minimum. To succeed, however, it is necessary to let the evaluators into the operation and let them dismantle every last screw in the vineyard, in the cellar and in the presentation," said the president of the Union of Winegrowers of the Czech Republic PhDr. Martin Chlad and added. Pride, courage, self-confidence without false modesty are the qualities that our winery needs to succeed and play a significant role with customers and on the wine map of Europe."

Entered wineries by category:

• Small - winery Nešetřil, Válka, Špalek, Martin Šebesta, Václav, Horák, Karel Novotný, Bíza Čejkovice, Family winery Jedlička and Víno Hradil
• Middle - Kněží hora winery, Obelisk, Popela Perná, Sonberk, Gotberg, Vinné sklepy Kutná Hora, THAYA winery, Kolby, Víno Zlomek&Vávra, Jan Baláž - Vinařství Baláž and Vinné sklepy Skalák
• Velké - winery Vladimír Tetur, Štěpán Maňák, Jan Plaček and CHÂTEAU VALTICE - Wine Cellars Valtice

The main idea of the competition remains the same and only wineries that contribute to the to the whole industry and moves Moravian and Czech winemaking forward, not only in the long term, but also significantly to the year. The evaluators will also take into account the winery's ability to cope with the current social and economic situation.

"The evaluation of the Winery of the Year 2023 and Art of Wine competition itself is divided into three steps, just like last year. Everything will start with the "Junior Jury", followed by the "Senior Jury" and everything will be completed by the "Expert Commission". This year, the judging also includes a blind tasting of 3 wines from each winery entered.which will take place under the guidance of the national sommelier Klára Kollárová and selected experts," said Ing. Dagmar Fialová, Marketing Director of the National Wine Centre in Valtice.

The evaluation process

"The'Junior Jury', composed of four students and PhD students from the Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Horticulture based in Lednice, will complete the technical parameters and objective criteria, and will make a video recording of three areas (cellar management, vineyard, business and marketing). This will ensure, above all, that the 'Senior Jury' has transparent, objective and, above all, fully comparable input for each winery assessed in the next step of the evaluation.

"The senior jury, made up of nine knowledgeable experts (three each from viticulture, cellar management and marketing and trade), will, in the secondIn the second step of the evaluation, the 'Junior Jury' also completes an evaluation form for their area, based on the input from the 'Junior Jury' and their own investigation. The sum of the scores from both steps and the evaluation forms is then used to determine the ranking, thus narrowing the number of nominees down to the final nine - 3 small wineries, 3 medium and 3 large wineries.

An"expert panel " will then assess the wineries directly in the final third stepthe extent to which the finalists meet the established competition criteria, and finally decide on the winners.

The whole evaluation process will be completed on 1 January 2011. February, when the winners in the three competition categories and the absolute winner of the Winery of the Year 2023 and the Art of Wine will be announced at the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. Awards will also be given - Lomax Enologist of the Year, Achievement of the Year, Prof. Vilém Kraus, CSc. The gala evening will be traditionally hosted by Mr. Marek Eben.

The competition is announced and the title "Winery of the Year" is awarded by the Union of Winegrowers of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the National Wine Centre, with significant support from the Wine Fund of the Czech Republic and the South Moravian Region. The event is organized under the auspices of the Governor Mgr. The general and titular partner is the new e-shop not only with wine Umění vína. The competition is also supported by the Brno Observatory and Planetarium and the Faculty of Horticulture of Mendel University in Brno.

Important dates:

• 1 September-9 October 2023 - management visits, inspection of the entered wineries by the "Junior Jury".
• 9-16 October 2023 - evaluation, preparation of documents for the "Senior Jury"
• 18-31 October 2023 - evaluation by the Senior Jury
• 1 November 2023 - announcement of the final nine
• 26-29 November 2023 - evaluation of the finalists by the expert jury
• 1 February 2024 - award ceremony moderated by Mark Eben

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