Why a Cold Climate Wine Competition?
While there are dozens of wine competitions around the United States, there is no competition devoted to the promotion of quality wines made exclusively from cold hardy grape cultivars. That changed in 2009 when the Minnesota Grape Growers Association, in conjunction with the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Farm Wineries Association sponsored the First Annual Cold Climate Wine Competition.

What kinds of wine can be entered in this competition?
There are 27 different competition categories, including Native Grape, French & American Hybrids, Sparkling, Specialty & Fortified and Non-Grape. Only commercially available wines (minimum production of 20 cases) are eligible. Wine grapes varieties generally found to be hardy without winter protection in USDA zone 4 are:

In addition to Double Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, the ICCWC awards three Best of Category wines (red, white, specialty/fortified) as well as the Minnesota Governor's Cup Award.