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2nd annual Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition starts today

By on October 8, 2014
The Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition is at the Columbia Gorge Hotel.

The Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Ore., is the site of the second annual Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition. (Photo by Andy Perdue/Great Northwest Wine)

HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Some of the Pacific Northwest’s most influential wine professionals are gathering today and Thursday at the famed Columbia Gorge Hotel to taste through some of the region’s best wines.

The second annual Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition begins this morning and will conclude Thursday afternoon when the 16 judges crown one wine best of show.

The competition is the only wine judging in the United States in which the judges nominate wines to be tasted. The judges come from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho, each having nominated up to 100 different wines that they want to have in the competition. This year’s judging drew nearly 420 entries, up from about 250 in its inaugural year.

The Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition is run by Great Northwest Wine. The judging is conducted under blind conditions, meaning the judges know what variety or style of wine they are tasting but neither the producer nor the wine’s retail price.

Last year, the Seven Falls 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from Ste. Michelle Wine Estates surprised the judges by winning best of show. Many of the wine professionals soon began to feature the $15 wine in their restaurants as a result.

This year’s nominating judges are:

Gold medals will be announced on Twitter as they are awarded, and full results will be posted on Great Northwest Wine by Thursday evening.

About Andy Perdue

Andy Perdue is the editor and publisher of Great Northwest Wine. He is a third-generation journalist who has worked at newspapers since the mid-1980s and has been writing about wine since 1998. He co-founded Wine Press Northwest magazine with Eric Degerman and served as its editor-in-chief for 15 years. He is a frequent judge at international wine competitions. He is the author of "The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer's Handbook" (Sasquatch, 2003) and has contributed to four other books. He writes about wine for The Seattle Times. You can find him on Twitter and .

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