Wine Spectator 2010 video finalists – what you should watch

Each year, the venerated wine mag Wine Spectator invites its readers to get their inner vinous juices flowing  with a 3-minute video contest. The finalists are chosen by the Wine Spectator editors, the winners are chosen by votes. The regs: “If you love wine and are creative with a video camera, we invite you to submit your wine video to Wine Spectator’s Fourth Annual Video Contest…We are looking for short, original videos that are educational and entertaining. Subjects may include interviews with winemakers, chefs or sommeliers, tours of wineries, tastings, wine and food pairings or simply your wine adventures.”

Side note: I imagine lots of people entered and the finalists must’ve been disappointed with the prizes awarded: Tickets to the Wine Spectator Wine Experience event in Vegas. No airfare, no accommodations? Really? The website promised “Everyone who enters gets a prize! Plus, there will be big prizes for the finalists and the winner!” BIG PRIZES and all they got was tickets? Lame.

Before you get excited about voting, that part is over; however, you should look at a few of the nine finalists for entertainment/education/fun. The majority of them sucked… too cheesy, too low budget, boring, annoying music. But these three, really professional-quality productions are worth checking out (warning, videos start automatically and, naturally, have sound):

Chateau Miller, a hilarious spoof video from Atlanta that makes fun of pretty much everything Wine Spectator stands for. Which is amusing.

The winner, a more serious (yet still light-hearted) exploration of what wine means to the winery principals and winemakers in Paso Robles, California. (Read more about the Paso Robles wine region).

And an entry from Barossa Valley, Australia which is more educational in nature but you get to listen to the cool accent for 3 minutes.