2020 International Women’s Wine Competition

Judging in the age of Covid-19 has some new challenges.

Here is part of the email I received to update me and my fellow judges on the new protocols we would see. “Upon arrival, you will be invited to wash your hands and then get a temperature check. (protocol spelled by the Health Department) Please have your masks on. You will enter the building and go directly to your assigned panel. There will be no Judges dinner as per The Sonoma County Health Department.”

As described, I walked up to the door and saw a hand-washing station. Then following the arrows to the building there was a person at the door to check my temperature. Once inside, I saw the bottle of sanitizer at my place at my assigned panel table. We sat farther apart. We had to dump out our own glasses of wine and put the glasses in dish racks. Overall, I thought it made us feel more comfortable coming in to judge. It was also nice to get back to doing something other than staying at home gardening or doing jigsaw puzzles.