A record number of wines have been entered this year in the professionally-judged Okanagan Fall Wine Judging Competition which gets underway on the weekend in West Kelowna.

It’s part of the 29th annual Okanagan Fall Wine Festival which begins tomorrow and runs to Oct. 11.

Judging chair for the wine festival society is Rhys Pender, owner of Wine Plus+ and he says he’s excited about the record number of entries that 64 wineries have submitted for judging.

“This competition is even more important as our premium wines from B.C. continue to be hailed as among the best in the world. This is a critical competition run by the highest world standards, and judged by eight of the most-respected wine judges in North America,” he said.

The quality of the judges is the backbone of such a competition’s reputation, and Rhys said he is most impressed by those who have been attracted to serve as judges.

They include: Daenna Van Mulligen, Paul Gregutt, Janet Dorozynski, Michelle Bouffard, Michaela Morris, David Scholefield, Jay Drysdale and Sid Cross.

With so many entries, the judges will have to assess large flights of wines of a single grape varietal in the blind tasting, and may have to do a second tasting to select the gold medal winners.

Medals are awarded in the categories of Gold, Silver and Bronze.

All wines served at wine festival events and judged in this competition are made entirely in B.C. of grapes grown here in the province.

The winners of this competition will be announced at the Medal Winners Tasting on Fri., Oct. 9, 3 p.m., at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.

Most will be available for tasting at the Grand Finale Consumer Tastings there Oct. 9 and 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are available from valleyfirsttix.com.

For more information on the festival, go to www.thewinefestivals.com.

jsteeves@kelownacapnews.com