The Guild provides formal training and education to give our judges the tools and expertise to be able to support various non-commercial competitions for British Columbia Artisanal Winemakers Association and for limited commercial competitions. The Guild conducts a formal wine judging course every 2 years.
A member of the BC Guild Wine Judges continues to build their qualifications in 18 different classes and varieties of wine. We conduct monthly tastings and mini education sessions 10 times a year in order to support this goal.
There are currently 3 different designations for our Guild members:
- Master Judge – Has completed the Training course and has qualified in a majority of the wine classes, maintained high personal consistency in monthly tastings, and has acted as a Chief Steward in a wine competition.
- Wine Judge – Has completed the training course and/or has started to build qualifications in the various classes.
- Trainee – Has not completed the formal training course or qualified in 3 or more classes. They do attend the monthly training sessions with a goal to becoming qualified wine judges. They can still participate in judging wines in a competition but only under the guidance of a highly experienced Wine Judge or Master Judge.