Behind the Scenes at the IVWA

My primary role at Wine Access is to manage and produce our two wine competitions, the Wine Access International Value Wine Awards (IVWA) and the Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards (CWA). While very similar in most respects, they are unique in their own ways.

Work on the IVWA begins in earnest immediately after the previous one ends. As the judges head home, we start working on tabulating the results and contacting the winners, and begin collecting feedback from judges, administrators, entrants, and anyone else who might provide good insight and feedback on the competition. We talk to the hotel, the convention space, and if we haven’t done so already, we book or confirm the space for the next year.

After the competition, things slow down for a while but pick up again in January. We update the website with details regarding the competition, provide deadlines and timelines for entering and in February, we open the competition for registrants.

And then nothing happens. The database of registered users for the competition software is emailed and the few, proud, and organized wineries and importers start entering their wine and the entries trickle in. Speaking from 5 years of experience, we can expect 80-90% of the entries in the last month before we close registration.

During this time, we finalize our judges. Most have already committed, but we build the judging panels, finalize the hotel rooms, plan the flights for the out of town judges, and start working on the evening plans for the judges.

Since we are in Calgary, where I am based, I get to pick restaurants that hopefully showcase some of the great variety of dining choices in Calgary. When we first held the IVWA in 2006, I think most of our judges firmly believed that the best restaurants in Calgary were Smitty’s, and the Owls Nest. In 2010, our restaurants were:

Earl’s Tin Palace - It was a great spot for arrival day and a great kick-off for the start of the competition. Plus, I got to sit beside the real-life “Earl” which was pretty cool. They did a great job hosting us and our group was very impressed.

Teatro - This stalwart on the Calgary fine dining circuit had our group in the beautiful Opera room for a great evening.

Q Haute Cuisine - Located just off the Bow River, its beautiful views complimented a delicious meal with impeccable service.

Kensington Riverside Inn - We dined with winemakers and principles from California who were in town for the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) festival.

Taste - A new place in Calgary, this small plates menu and the incredible vibe inside was a perfect place to relax with the judges after day four of tasting. Good food and cold beer made for a highlight of the week. (Great wine list too!)

River Café - Where better to close the competition after a week of judging? An all-around favourite - the food, service and beautiful room made for a perfect evening.

Around two months before the competition, the wine samples start arriving. The offices of Wine Access have a short memory when it comes to these samples, and no one believes me when I start reminding them that around 4000 sample bottles are on their way. They arrive in shipper cases in every shape and size, from the tiny 2 packs all the way up to the infamous and heavy 24 pack.

After arrival, each wine is double-checked. We confirm vintages, prices (the IVWA are only open to wines that retail in Canada for less than $25), alcohol, varietal (yes - people ship the wrong wine all the time) and that there are a minimum of 3 bottles of each sample. After that, we pack the wine into a more space-conscious wine box (we reuse them every year) and take the wine to a temperature-controlled storage unit until delivery to the judging venue.

One glorious day around the last week of May, the delivery trucks start dropping by with full truckloads of wine boxes. In the morning, there might be 30 cases waiting to be processed, and in the evening, we might have 60 cases after a full day processing shipments. Once I’ve checked the wine, I mark it as received in the competition database so that the winery or agent can go online and know that the wine was received in good order.

The week before the judging starts is a crazy time. We deal with all sorts of challenges - last minute entries, late shipments, missing glassware, lost reservations, judges cancelling, and anything else that my nightmares can think of, along with double checking all the wine in the office. This keeps me busy and perhaps a touch surly. On the Friday before the competition, around 1500 Speigelau expert tasters arrive from our friends at the Banff Springs Hotel and we do all the last minute panicking.

On Saturday, I meet the shipping company that loads up about 6-7 pallets of wine at the storage facility to deliver to the university, and then pick up Competition Director Anthony Gismondi and Earl Paxton, who designed the competition software and helps Anthony run the event. Those are the big brains that keep the competition running smoothly in the back room.

Sunday is the setup day. Typically starting around 8 am, our group of about a dozen or so volunteers lay out all the wine in their flights, according to panel, code and label. This takes about 8 hours and during this time, the judges arrive from out of town and make their way to the hotel, where we then meet them at around 6:30pm for the welcome dinner.

Then the fun really starts.