President of the specialised jury: Prof. Fedor Malík, DrSc.
Competition oenologist: Prof. Josef Balík, PhD.
Organising committee: Lubomír Bárta, Radovan Koudelka, Dr. Martin Křístek (Director of the competition)
The organiser of the competition is the registered association K.A.H.A.N., in collaboration with Zábřeh Castle in Ostrava and the National Wine Centre in Valtice. The organiser of the competition reserves the right to exclude competition samples that do not fulfil the conditions as laid down in the competition statutes herewith. Wines from producers who were, according to the official communication of the State Agricultural and Food Inspectorate, found guilty during the two years prior to the competition’s taking place of repeated violation of the wine law through the use of an unauthorised oenological approach, of products of unknown origin, of showing an incorrect geographical origin or the incorrect usage of traditional terminology, will be excluded.
The competiton is open to all Czech and foreign wines that are produced using two or more Vitis vinifera grape varieties and for all Czech and foreign brand wines complying with the competition statutes. Wines labelled as VOC (wines of original certification) and other wines of local provenance must comply with Wine Act No. 321/2004 Sb. in its latest version. The competition is designated for wines labelled as CHOP or Protected Demomination of Origin (AOP Appellation d’Origine Protégée) or as CHZO or Protected Geographical Denomination (IGP – Indication Géographique Protégée).
The minimum amount of a competition sample which the participant is required to have at his disposal in stock has not been stipulated.
The competition participant will give free of charge 6 bottles containing 0.5 l or 0.75 l of each competition sample into the possession of the competition organiser for the purpose of their sensoric evaluation and their subsequent presentation at the exhibition of wines. Each bottle must be marked with the following: the wine’s name, the name of the producer or importer, its batch number. Competition participants are exempt from paying any competition fees.
The registration of wines takes place on-line at the following internet address: www.elwis.cz (starting March 2024). The competition participant will fill in the following information for each competition sample: The name of the entrant (in accordance with the business register, or the name of the applicant as a physical person, their company headquarters, business registration number, contact name, telephone, e-mail), the name of the wine, the composition of the cuvée, vintage, quality designation, country of origin, wine region or sub-region, batch number, content of residual sugar in g/l, alcohol by volume in %, evidence number of quality (only applies to quality wines and quality wines with special attributes originating in the Czech Republic), competition category. Supplying incorrect data will result in a competition sample being excluded from the competition. By filling in the registration form the competition participant agrees to the processing and subsequent publication of the data concerning the producer or importer and the competition sample in the exhibition catalogue and the specialised press. A copy of the wine’s analytical data, containing details of the alcohol level by volume, sugar content (glucose and fructose) and the total acidity content, must be attached to the entry form. As a supplement to the application form (the registration number of the quality level of the relevant sample may be of sufficient evidence), quality wines of local provenance, quality wines with special attributes, wines of original certification (VOC), sparkling wines from a specified region, aromatic sparkling wines from a specified region of local production must be accompanied by a copy of the Ruling by the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the wine’s classification according to Article 14 of the Wine Act No. 215/1995 Coll. (before 30.4.2004), or the resolution by the VOC committee, respectively that by the State Agricultural and Food Inspectorate (SZPI) according the Article 26 of the Wine Act No. 321/2004 Coll. in its latest published version (after 1.5.2004). For wines of local provenance and subject to the classification, the necessary documentation must be submitted no later than 30.5.2024, failing which the wines will be excluded from the competition without regard to the result. Wines labelled as CHZO (Protected Geographical Denomination) must be accompanied by a certificate confirming the origin of the grapes (copy of the document evidencing the parcel of land on which the grapes were grown or copy of the document evidencing the purchase of the grapes.
The sample collection will take place on 3.4.2024 at the following collection points:
NÁRODNÍ VINAŘSKÉ CENTRUM (Centrum Excelence Building), Sobotní 1029, 691 42 Valtice, Czech Republic, tel. +420 602 470 261
MARTIN KŘÍSTEK, Na Pořadí 1002, 735 41 Petřvald, Czech Republic, tel. +420 603 240 661 (only to this collection point competition samples may be delivered by post anytime, but not to arrive later than 5.4.2024)
FEDOR MALÍK, Kalinčiakova 21, 900 01 Modra, Slovakia, tel. +421 907 890 988
The evaluation of the wines will take place on 8.4.2024 at the National Wine Centre (Národní vinařské centrum) in Valtice. The announcement of the results and the exhibition of the wines will be on 30.4.2024 in Zábřeh Castle in Ostrava. Unclassified wines of local provenance, which are subject to classification, will be only nominated for evaluation during the announcement of the results.
Wines will be judged by specialised committees consisting of no fewer than five persons each (president, jurors), whose members and president will be appointed by the director of the competition from the universally available list of recognised specialists in the field of sensoric wine analysis. Tasters from the Czech Republic are required to be listed in the Register of wine evaluators at the National Wine Centre and must have taken part at least once in another competition that fulfils the norms of the National Standards of Certified Wine Competitions of the Czech Republic or have attended the training programme for tasters organised by the National Wine Centre. The scores given by the presidents of the specialised committees will be be included in the overall marking. Each specialised committee will evaluate a maximum of 50 competition samples in any one day. Wines will be tasted in flights of approximately 15 samples, each of which will be followed by a break. The average time spent on marking one competition sample is 5 minutes.
The evaluation process will take place under the direction of the president of the specialised jury, who will have experience with the organisation of international wine contests. In keeping with the statutes, impartiality during the evaluation will be supervised by the director of the competition. The competition oenologist is answerable to the director of the competition and is responsible in particular for verifying the numbering and categorisation of competition samples. Should any contentious or ambiguous matters arise during the evaluation, the president of a specialised jury will endeavour to resolve the matter in collaboration with the oenologist and the director of the competition.
a) The tasting area will be light, well aired and at a temperature of between 18°C – 22°C, free from any external disturbing influences
b) The specialised committees will work at round tables, discussion prior to closing the evaluation of a sample will not, however, be permitted, the exception being a request for a repeat tasting of a competition sample or its elimination by any of the committee members. The presidents of the specialised committees must ensure that no member of their committee (including him/herself) shall influence other committee members during the course of the evaluations
c) Competition samples are presented to specialised committees in such a manner that their identity is completely obscured (samples are either poured out from their original bottles which have been completely covered, including the neck and bottom, or may be served already poured into appropriate glasses, or else may be served from glass decanters). Competition samples are clearly marked with their competition number placed on the covered bottle or on the tray alongside the glasses
d) The tasters will have at their disposal a list of samples to be served showing only the sample’s competition number, vintage and category, a minimum of three wine glasses (unless each sample is served in a new glass), a glass for water, a notepad and pen, napkins, a vessel for pouring the wine away (spitoon), neutral still water and bread in order to neutralise the palate
e) Tasting glasses are plain, made of clear glass without being engraved or painted, on a stem and of a minimum content of 350 ml
f) Specialised committees will work from 8.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., breaks will be accorded by the committee president
g) Competition samples are arranged according to vintage (in descending order) and the content of residual sugar (in ascending order)
h) Competition samples are served at the following temperatures (measured in the bottle): white and rosé, natural sweet and liqueur wines 10°C – 12°C, red wines 14°C – 16°C, sparkling wine 6°C – 8°C
i) In the event of any ambiguity or discrepancy during the processing of the results, the competition organiser will be able, at the request of the president of the specialised jury or one of the committee presidents, to investigate the points awarded to any competition sample by the individual members of that specialised committee
Competition samples are judged by using a hundred-point system as set out by the International Union of Oenologists (in compliance with the OIV standards dating from 2009), assisted by the computerised system for evaluating wines developed by the National Wine Centre in Valtice. The resulting point-rating of each competition sample is the average of all the points awarded by individual committee members after the elimination of the highest and lowest scores. In the event of more than one competition sample receiving an equal number of points, a further criterion comes into play: a simple arithmetical average and then the median value. The individual evaluations given by the individual specialised-committee members are signed by the taster and then by the committee president after being printed out by the computer system and will be stored for a period of five years.
Submitted wine samples are arranged in the following competition categories:
A 1 … still white dry wines (to 4 g/l residual sugar, or to 9 g/l residual sugar, if the total acidity content is more than 2 g/l lower than the residual-sugar content)
A 2 … still white semi-dry and semi-sweet wines (to 45 g/l residual sugar),
B … still red wines (without taking into account the residual-sugar content),
C … still rosé wines, including blancs de noirs (without taking into account the residual-sugar content),
D … sparkling wines (without taking into account the residual-sugar content),
E … liqueur and sweet wines (above 45 g/l residual sugar)
In the event of a small number (fewer than five) samples in any competition category, the organiser reserves the right to merge the category with another category, with the medal being conferred on both (all) merged categories together.
Double gold medals are awarded to wines receiving 90 points and above. Gold medals are awarded to wines receiving 87 – 89.99 points, silver medals are awarded to wines receiving 84.00 – 86.99 points. The competition organiser will award only double gold, gold and silver medals.
The title of Champion is given to the wines receiving the highest number of points in category A 1 and category B. In the event of the Champion title going to a foreign wine, the local wine having the highest points will be awarded the title of National Winner.
The Category Winner title is awarded to the wine with the highest points in the categories A 2, C, D, E, or in the merged categories.
The title of Best Collection of Wines is awarded to the competition participant having the highest average points total for the ensemble of all his competition samples. For the evaluation of the Best Collection of Wines only those competition participants entering four or more competition samples will be taken into account.
For wines awarded by the specialised committees (Double Gold Medal, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Champion, National Winner, Category Winner, Best Collection of Wines) a Diploma will be given to the competition participant mentioning the award to his competition sample (collection). The batch number of the competition sample will be mentioned on the Diploma.
The competition participant has the right to attach self-adhesive medal labels (CHAMPION, NATIONAL WINNER, CATEGORY WINNER, DOUBLE GOLD, GOLD, SILVER) to bottles of wine of the awarded competition sample. These can be purchased from the competition organiser for the price of 2.00 CZK or 0.08 € per item (on orders before 25.4.2024) or at a negotiated price (on orders after 26.4.2024 or on orders exceeding 10000 items). The competition participant will be responsible for paying the designated fee on the basis of an invoice into the account of the competition organiser:
Account name: Klub Amatérských Hodnotitelů Alkoholických Nápojů (K.A.H.A.N.), z.s., Bank: Česká spořitelna, a.s., A/C No: 4433088093, Bank sort code 0800, BIC: GIBACZPX, IBAN: CZ82 0800 0000 0044 3308 8093, Variable symbol: invoice No.
The displaying of data on a wine label which do not correspond to the evaluation of the relevant wine is not permitted, e.g. displaying the award on other wines produced by the competition participant. The competition participant may display the data relating to the award in his publicity material for a period of five years from the time of its awarding.
Independent of the wine competition itself the competition samples are evaluated by a Committee of the lay public. Marking by the Committee of the lay public does enable the competition participants to compare the opinions of the specialised committees with those of the general public. The Jaroslav Kozel´s Prix is awarded to the wine with the highest rating by juror – members of K.A.H.A.N. association committee. With regard to certificates awarded by the Jaroslav Kozel´s Prix and the Committees of the lay public (Double Gold Medal, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Champion, National Winner, Category Winner, Best Collection of Wine) the competition participant will receive a Diploma inscribed with the award given to the relevant competition sample.
