Location: Ararat
Date: October
Organised by: Grampians Winemakers Inc
What’s it about: Consumer driven wine competition for wineries in the Ballarat, Pyrenees, Grampians and Henty Wine Regions

In 1995 the Grampians Winemakers developed the Grampians Gourmet Festival, a major regional event held in early May each year at Halls Gap. Beginning in 2005, The Grampians Winemakers have added a second major event to the annual calendar, the Western District Wine Challenge, which will be held in Ararat each October. The aim of the event is to promote and celebrate the quality and variety of Western District wines.

 The Wine Challenge is open to wines sourced and sold from wineries in the Ballarat, Pyrenees, Grampians and Henty Wine Regions. There are 6 classes: Riesling, chardonnay, other whites, shiraz, pinot and other reds. A team of 3 respected wine judges assess all the wines, nominating between zero and 5 “special” wines from each class to be judged by a consumer panel. That panel determines the winners of each section. Trophies are presented to the winners of those sections, as well as an overall consumer’s wine of the show and the judge’s wine of the show.

 So what makes this WINE CHALLENGE so special?

 There are some significant differences between this Wine Challenge and a normal wine show.

The three judges have been chosen bearing in mind their independence from ownership, winemaking or any other direct involvement with wineries from these regions. 
 
It is a panel of consumers who get to decide the trophy winners. The panel of 30 consumers come from interested wine consumers across the 4 regions, typically consumers associated with wine and food groups. They assess the maximum of 5 wines in each of the 6 classes, and determine the trophy winners. The rationale being it is the consumer who really supports the wine industry by buying the product, so this event gives them the ultimate choice.

No-one knows who the trophy winners are before each presentation. Often at wine shows, winners have been notified beforehand, robbing the occasion of any real excitement.

The winning wines are served with the courses at the presentation dinner, so dinner guests can taste first hand why the consumers panel and judges thought the winning wines so worthy of such glory.

In summary, a unique concept that gives ownership of these awards back to the consumer.