It is very hard to break into the ranks of the professional wine judges. There are very few opportunities for someone who is not an MS or MW or some kind of industry person to get into the cadre of judges. One of the few ways is to take and pass a judge's qualifying exam but those are only seldom held. If you live in the mid-west an opening is coming. In July the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) will host the Mid-American Wine Competition. It will be open only to the wineries of the mid-west. If you want to try to be a judge for this competition (most of the other judges are big name regulars on the wine judging circuit like Doug Frost and Dr. Richard Peterson) you are inivted to take the local judges qualifying exam which will be held at
10 am on April 28, 2007 at the DMACC campus in Ankeny, Iowa. If interested please send me an e mail at snipped-for-privacy@san.rr.com. I'm the Director of the competition.
This is a test of tasting ability and consistency not esoteric wine knowledge. You will not be asked to name every AVA in Iowa. You will be asked to taste and score several wines. There is no charge to participate.