Dr. Bill Morris
University of Tennessee
Competition Chairman

Who We Are

Wines of the South is an annual regional wine competition designed to promote and celebrate
the great tastes of Southern vintages.

For the past twenty years, the Tennessee Farm Winegrowers Association (TFWA) has held a wine competition that was also open to wineries in the states contiguous to Tennessee. With the creation of the Wines of the South Competition, all southern wineries now have a unique venue in which we can compare, compete, and promote one another’s winemaking art! In 2002, the University of Tennessee joined the TFWA to help coordinate this new wine competition. Dr. Bill Morris, Professor of Food Sciences UT, is the competition Chairman. He coordinates the entire competition: from contacting the judges to shipping the medals.

Wineries in thirteen states are invited to participate. Those states include:

Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Texas
South Carolina
Virginia

Experienced professionals from around the region judge the entries. All wines are judged blind, served in an INAO tasting glass at the appropriate temperature, and ranked with the industry standard 20-point scale.