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Naked Wines offers $1million in global winemaker competition

Published:  14 March, 2012

Online wine retailer Naked Wines, is launching a global winemaking competition, that will guarantee $1million investment fund for the winners.

Judged by hundreds of consumers, the aim of the $1million Zero to Hero Wine Awards is to discover the world's most talented yet unknown winemakers.

The competition is free for winemakers to enter and will consist of six preliminary rounds covering wines from France, the UK, Spain, Chile, Argentina and Australia.

Rowan Gormley, founder and chief executive officer, of Naked Wines, says: "Our goal as a business is to reward genuine winemaking talent, not marketing budget, as there are thousands of top-drawer producers whose wines never make our shores because they don't have the means to do so.

"Zero to Hero puts every winemaker who enters on a level playing field, as they're judged by the juice inside the bottle alone, rather than the size of their wallet - and by hundreds of normal, everyday wine drinkers, rather than a handful of experts or critics.

Gormley adds: "From everything we've learnt to date, consumer reviews are an incredibly powerful force and are worth ten times any marketing spiel or tasting note when it comes to picking out the gems."

The competition, which will take place in various venues across London, is being supported by English Wine Producers, UBI France, Wines of Spain, Wines of Chile, Wines of Argentina and Wines of Australia - with the UK leg being hosted at Vintners Hall, London, on May 15.

The winner from each round will secure a guaranteed £50K listing on Naked Wines, and the six winning wines will be judged in the grand finale in December, where a $500k investment fund will be awarded to the overall winner.

Consumers can apply to be a judge at www.facebook.com/nakedwines, where they'll also be entered into a prize-draw to win an all-expenses-paid, round-the-world trip to the six winning vineyards, worth £25K.

Interested winemakers should email Eamon.fitzgerald@nakedwines.com to find out how to take part.

www.nakedwines.com

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