Commercial Competition
For the last 37 years of the Festival's forty-eight-year history, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Best-In-Show awards have been handed out to the most consistent achievers in a Commercial Wine Competition marked by one strong field after another.
This early-in-the-year look at Northwest wines offers clear evidence of which wineries are on track and who to watch at other festival showcases around the country throughout the year.
2025 Commercial Wine Competition Results
2024 Commercial Wine Competition Results
Best of Show Commercial Winners from 1987 to 2024
Amateur Competition
This years contest was sponsored by Badmotivator Legacy Barrels. Best of Show and the Runner up were both awarded with a hand-made 5 gallon French Oak barrel.
We are proud to announce our 2025 Tony Herman "Best in Show" is Christopher Conrad & Alfredo Velez, from Eugene, Oregon with a Fortified Zinfandel and the runner up is Eric Mireiter, from Portland, Oregon with a Red Blend. Congratulations to both our winners!
Thank you to everyone who entered and our wonderful panel of judges. All entries will receive the judging forms and metal certificates by mail.
2025 Amateur Wine Competition Results
2024 Amateur Wine Competition Results
This wine competition is open to amateur winemakers only and offers an opportunity for these individuals to have their wines independently evaluated by a panel of judges. Wines are scored on a 20-point system based on sight, smell, taste, and overall quality.
Categories include Dry Fruit, Sweet Fruit, Dry Berry, Sweet Berry, White Vinifera, White Non-Vinifera, Red Vinifera, Red Non-Vinifera, and Specialty, a category that includes all wines not found in other specified divisions.
Tony Herman was our Amateur Wine expert for the past years and we are sorry to say "until we meet again" to Tony, he has gone on to the great vineyard in the sky in the Spring of 2023. Here's a toast to you Tony!
Our facilitator this year is Lonna Applegate. She has been in the restaurant industry for the last 20 years and has been developing her palate for the last 10. She has assisted with the Commercial Wine Competition for 3 years and was a Commercial Wine Judge this last year. She has her Introductory Sommelier Certificate and is working toward learning as much as she can about wine. She is the General Manager at Restaurant Beck in Depoe Bay and loves tasting new wines to continue to develop their award winning wine portfolio. We look forward to having her help facilitate this year's Amateur Wine Competition.
For more information, please contact the Newport Chamber of Commerce at 541-265-8801 or email info@newportchamber.org
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