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COMPETITION Oregon Wine Experience expands Entries will come from around the state Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Jul. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Jul. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News JACKSONVILLE — Oregon Wine Experience opened its gates to wineries beyond Southern Oregon this year and entries have poured in from as far away as Hood River. Nearly 70 wineries will be represented at this year's competition and tasting that benefits Asante Health Foundation at Bigham Knoll. That's up from 2015, when 49 regional wineries entered wines and 56 poured at the grand tasting. Judging takes place Aug. 6-7 with the medal celebration on Aug. 24, midway through the Aug. 22-28 wine festival. While the entry perimeters widened, wineries had to enter the judging to pour at the grand tasting this year. When the entry window shut last week, 67 wineries had submitted more than 200 wines. "This is a breakout year," said Bruce Nicholson, chairman of the wine competition. "We didn't know how many wineries we'd have, but a judge can only judge so many wines, we had to limit that. "Since we had six judges committed to this year’s competition and three judges are assigned to a panel, we needed to limit the judges to 75 wines per panel per day," Nicholson said. As a result, wine entries were capped at 300 with wineries limited to four wines, allowing for greater participation. "After this year, we will have a better idea of how many statewide wineries are participating and can expand the judging panels to accommodate more wines in the competition," Nicholson said. In the past, anyone making wine from 100 percent Southern Oregon American Viticultural Area-grown grapes was eligible, allowing a handful of entries from beyond Jackson, Josephine and Douglas counties. This year grapes must be 100 percent sourced from officially designed Oregon AVAs. As of Friday, 17 out-of-area wineries, including heavyweights King Estate Winery of Eugene and Willamette Valley Vineyards of Turner, were slated to compete. There are another eight wineries from the region that didn't participate in last year's wine experience: 2Hawk Vineyard & Winery, Aurora Vines, Devitt Winery, Dragonfly Time, Eliana Wines, Guzzo Family Vineyard, Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards and Upper Five Vineyard. Eight regional wineries that participated last year elected to pass this August. "Things change from year to year and we knew there would be a change in the landscape," Nicholson said. "Wineries have reasons for participating or not participating. Whether it was inventory, economic conditions or market choices the wineries were making, we can't tell for certain." Until all of the wine is shipped and received, he said, the actual entry count could change. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles .31. By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Jul. 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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