The "Best-of-Appellation" (BOA) evaluation tastings are designed to facilitate the building of place-identity for the hundreds of winegrowing regions of North America. The BOA Program is not, per se, a competition, though the wines that best express the character and quality of their region of origin are rewarded with medals and placement on Appellation America's Best-of-Appellation Lists for that region.

The BOA process rigorously follows this familiar proposition:

In the BOA process, the "best" wines are defined by their own place of origin; NOT by the personal taste preferences of our esteemed and expert Evaluators. Nor are the wines of one place judged implicitly against the taste profile of wines from another place.

The Evaluators:
The BOA assessments are done by panels of professional sensory evaluators moderated by the BOA Program Director and in-house oenologist, Clark Smith, and, whenever possible, assisted by a Regional Advocate Evaluator*. Since the methodology of these evaluations is more forensic than critical in nature, Appellation America's Senior Editors and Regional Correspondents, as well as Guest Wine Writers, may be in attendance pursuant to journalistic, rather than evaluating roles.

Evaluation Process:
1. The tastings are directed by the Moderator, and all wines are handled/poured by a professional service staff out of sight of the Evaluators.

2. Tasting is done blind in flight categories composed of wines of the same variety from the same appellation, or in cross-appellation groupings carefully designed by the Moderator to highlight the different characteristics of the respective appellations. The focus is on identifying distinct regional signatures, not competing the wines or appellations against each other. A regional signature is deemed to be a pattern of taste and character identifiable in the wine, and traceable to the terroir of the region and/or the locally applied technologies in viticulture and oenology…practical professional choices, if you will, about how to manage mother nature in a given region. In most appellations there are multiple signatures (often for the same variety), identifiable on a spectrum running from traditional, to dominant, to innovative. The BOA Evaluation Program is designed to isolate and equitably accommodate the full spectrum of wine character where appropriate.

3. Each wine submitted for evaluation in the BOA Program is accompanied by a detailed Product Information Form, eliciting information about a wide range of questions regarding the terroir and applied technologies background on the wine being evaluated. Prior to the tasting, the Moderator collates this information to inform the key questions he wants to explore about the appellation in the actual tasting process.

4. Each tasting begins with a discussion of what is already known and/or expected in the development of the regional character and styles of wines from the subject appellation. The descriptive content of this preliminary discussion will be THE qualitative benchmark for the evaluation to follow, super-ceding personal taste preferences, which the Evaluators may or may not be bringing to the table. This preliminary discussion may be accompanied by tasting wines previously judged to typify the best, or developing, characteristics of the region/variety.

5. The Evaluators individually analyze all the wines in the flight, searching for the patterns of typicity, making notes, and assessing each wine objectively against the afore-mentioned, regionally-informed qualitative benchmark on four separate dimensions (color, nose, flavor, balance). As with the first three parameters, the locus of "balance" in the BOA process is to be sought in the signature characteristics of the region, itself, not in the individual taste preferences of the Evaluators. In the final analysis, it matters not whether the Evaluator even "likes" the style of the wine, but rather whether the wine effectively expresses the character of the region.

6. Pursuant to individual assessment, the Moderator quickly polls the panel to determine which wines deserve further discussion in order to define and refine the character/style/quality profile(s) of that variety in the given appellation.

7. Discussion is concluded with an apportionment of the BEST-OF-APPELLATION™ Awards:

8. Notes from all the Evaluators are amalgamated and put into the database, and the award winning wines are promptly advanced to the "Best-of-Appellation™" list for that variety and region.

Anomalous Wines:
Because the BOA process is purposely focused on defining regionality and patterns of commonality, certain wines may be of exceptional quality by standards other than the regional benchmark criteria, and thus be underrated in the focused BOA evaluation process. Such wines may be accommodated by the following alternatives.

1. An Evaluator may position him/herself as an advocate for the more or less anomalous wine during the discussion and advance the premise that the wine deserves "Best-Of" recognition as either a quality example of the character/style of wines from the region in the past, or a potential beacon of where the region may be headed as it develops its identity for that variety in the future. If the other panelists concur, the wine will be medaled and the "Best-of-Appellation" notes will indicate the nature of its variance.

2. Once a wine has gone through the BOA evaluation process, an Editor or Regional Correspondent may use Appellation America's "Wine Recommendation" editorial option to applaud a wine that hits the spot with their personal taste preferences. Indeed, this reward is not limited to regionally anomalous wines; even wines which are being advanced to Best-of-Appellation standing may be treated simultaneously to a separate recommendation using this personal-preference format.