Amateur Winemakers of Canada
AWC Stewards
One Steward per class will work if you are short of bodies. However, if you have a lot of people that want to be involved with the judging, and perhaps learn something, then you might assign one Steward per Judge.

Stewards should be informed well ahead of time what is expected of them. As with Judges, they should be provided with CLASS DESCRIPTION and DUTIES OF STEWARDS, as well as necessary information about the methods of arriving at Winners.

You might wish to get the Stewards to come well before the judging is to start. They can be of assistance setting up tables, entries and glasses.

Hopefully the Judges will feel able to involve the Stewards in the judging process to some extent, so they have the opportunity to learn.

DUTIES OF STEWARDS
1. Well before the Competition, you should familiarize yourself with the way it is going to be run. In particular, you should read the appropriate parts of SECTION F of the HANDBOOK. Find out which system - that suggested in the Handbook or some other, is going to be used to determine the winners in each class.

Find out if "Best Wine in Competition" and "Best Brew in Competition" is going to assessed and if so, how you might be involved.

2. On competition day, take care to avoid all use of after-shave or scent which, along with tobacco smoke residue, is most disturbing to Judges. Arrive at the judging room AT LEAST HALF AN HOUR BEFORE the judging is to start.

3. You should bring the following equipment: A bucket, a spittoon, a bottle opener, a corkscrew and a lint free dish towel.

4. Introduce yourself to the Chief Steward who will in turn introduce you to the Judge or Judges you are going to be working with.

5. Prepare a set of IDENTICAL glasses for the Judge. These should be numbered on the FOOT (not the bowl) of each glass to correspond to the number of each entry. Check with the Judge to see if any special preparation of the glasses is required before pouring the entries. The Judge may wish to sniff an empty glass or two to ensure that they are free from foreign smells. He or she may even want them to be "pickled" with the entry that is to be judged in that glass. "Pickling" involves pouring a tiny amount of the wine to be judged in that glass, swirling it and dumping it out.

6. Make sure the Judge has a supply of water for palate cleansing. The temperature of this should be close to that of the entries being judged. Iced water is most undesirable, as it shocks the palate.

7. Bottles may (check with the Judges) be opened ahead of time in all classes except Sparkling, the Brew and Sparkling Cider classes. In the latter classes you MUST consult with the Judges on the timing and method of opening the entries.

8. In all classes, the Judges must be consulted as to how the entries are to be poured. Entries which contain sediment should be carefully handled.

9. Be prepared to deal with any special requests the Judge might have, such as shuffling the order of the top entries so the Judge can check his or her opinion blind.

10. Keep the Judge supplied with such additional clean glasses as he or she should require for re-tasting toward the end of the judging process.

11. Handle the comment sheets as required and check that each comment sheet is the correct one for the entry being judged.

12. Make sure the Chief Steward gets the entry numbers of all award winners along with the medal or marit award made. If there is to be a tasting of entries at a social gathering later, check with the Chief Steward and the Judges if there are any totally undrinkable entries. These should be dumped to protect the unwary.

13. Clear off the judging table and dispose of dirty glasses as directed.

14. Ensure that winning bottles are not marked in any way, and return them to the Chief Steward for retagging after the judging. Obtain the tags for the rest of the entries from the Chief Steward and retag them.

15. Any verbal comments made by the Judges during the judging should be treated as confidential.

16. Smoking is NOT PERMITTED anywhere in the vicinity of the judging room.

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