SAKURA AWARDS

FAQ

GENERAL

The organizer is Wine and Spirits Culture Association. Yumi Tanabe is the president of the awards.

https://www.sakuraaward.com/en/about.html

The percentage of award-winning wines is about 45% to 60% of the total entries. In 2023 (the 10th edition), the percentage of winning wines was 59.6% of the total number of entries.

It is 20,000JPY per wine entry (additional 10% consumption tax applies). There are early bird and volume discounts.

We work with our media partners to distribute the results to the trade, and our sales partners will help promote the Award winning wines broadly.
The winners are showcased at our booth at various trade shows. We work with various retail outlets to promote sales of the award winning wines by creating the [“SAKURA” Japan Women's Wine Awards Wine Sales Fairs］ throughout Japan.
We also promote through SNS for consumers.

SAKURA AWARDS do not organize any competitions for alcoholic beverages other than wine.

We issue an award certificate and use of our medals at no cost for their marketing materials. In the 10th edition, the Trophy plaque made of Kiso lacquerware, The traditional craft of Japan was presented to the winners of Diamond Trophy and the Grand Prix.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/result/privileges.html

We promote the award-winning wines to major supermarkets, department stores, wine shops, online shopping websites and mail-order companies. We help to create wine events at these places to feature the award-winning wines.
We also seek restaurants to purchase the award-winning wines and include them in their wine menu.

All winning wines will be posted on the “SAKURA” Japan Women's Wine Awards official website. We offer wineries that are not currently imported in Japan the opportunity to be discovered by top wine buyers.
We also have tasting events inviting importers to sample them.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/sakuraaward/photos/?tab=album&album_id=3475989269093480

On our website, there is a list of shops and restaurants throughout Japan, who actively sell and promote “SAKURA” award-winning wines.
It is beneficial to be on the “SAKURA” Sales Support Shops and Restaurants list.
The registration is available on our website and it is free of charge.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/sales/sales.html

ENTRY(ID, MyPage, Password)

Information of the company which submits the entry is required. (Company name, contact person, phone number, email address, company address, etc.) All the information we receive will be used only for the communication purposes participating in this competition (examination committee). For more information, please check our privacy policy.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/privacy.html

On MyPage, you can register your company information, pay your entry fee, register and modify your wine information, download the OUTER CARTON, and download a PDF of the medal logo and diploma for your award-winning wine. Please keep your ID and password for MyPage login.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/entry.html

The number of items can be changed before the payment of the entry fee.
No cancellations or refunds will be accepted after the payment.
If the planned wine is not available anymore, we kindly ask you to enter another wine instead.

To add items, there is an 'Add items' button at the bottom of the number of items section of the 'MyPage' tab on the login page.
You can add items by clicking the button.

You can only use ID from the FY 2023. If you don't remember the previous ID, please register from here again.
*Entry period: October 2nd– November 30th

https://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/entry.html

Please click “If you don't remember your Password” link and follow the steps. You will receive the new password to your registered Email address.

Yes, please login to MyPage and click the Company Information tab, then you can change your password.

Please send the ID you don't need by Email. And we will delet it.
email

By November 30th, you can change on MyPage.
After December 1st, please send email to “SAKURA” Japan Women’s Wine Awards Office.

Use capital letters only (A to Z), numbers (0 to 9), hyphens (-), underscores (_), commas (,), and periods (.).
* Lowercase letters and special characters cannot be used.

MyPage will be locked if the payment is not made by due date.
The due date is two weeks after your registration.
Please send an email to “SAKURA” Japan Women’s Wine Awards Office.

PAYMENT

It will take time for bank to confirm your payment, so please make sure to send us an email with your Bank Slip attached. We will confirm your payment by receiving the Bank Slip.

It is 20,000JPY per wine entry (additional 10% consumption tax applies). There are early bird and volume discounts.

You can download from MyPage.

It is only possible to make a payment by one account each.
In that case, please create a new account with a different ID name.

Due to the exchange instability, the amount for bank transfer will be shown only in JPY.
Fixed exchanging rate and individualized services are also difficult to provide.
If you wish to know the total amount in your currency, please ask at the nearest bank.
We appreciate your understanding.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.
We kindly ask you to confirm the conditions below.
・The limit of usage is enough
・It is a credit card, not a debit card
・Enter correct expiration date
・Refresh payment link from MyPage every time you try

Also, it is possible that there is a security block so we also ask you to check with your credit card company just in case.

If it still does not work after confirming these conditions, please kindly try to pay in JPY.

In Japan, instead of IBAN Number, we use SWIFT code which is "BOTKJPJT".
If your bank asks you "11 digits", please use "BOTKJPJT***".

WINE REGISTRATION

You can proceed on MyPage.
If you wish to add items after the payment, please click on the 'Add items' button from the 'MyPage' tab on the login page.
The procedure thereafter is the same as for the first entry.
Please note that no refunds will be made for reductions in the number of items after payment has been completed.

You can enter wine information after the office confirms your payment. In the case of bank transfer, please send the copy of bank slip by email. After we receive it, we will email the confirmation.

Yes, all the information is necessary for us to make accurate and fair judgements.

Please use capital letters only (A to Z), numbers (0 to 9), hyphens (-), underscores (_), commas (,), and periods (.).
* Lowercase letters and special characters cannot be used.

Yes, you can change the wine information on MyPage until November 30, 2021.
After December 1, 2021, please send an Email to SAKURA AWARDS Office.
Also, even before November 30, 2021, after you have arranged the samples to be sent and the warehouse inspection is completed, you will not be able to re-edit the wine information.
If you wish to change wine information after the inspection, please send an Email to SAKURA AWARDS office. entry@sakuraaward.com

Yes, it is possible to submit the same wine as last year.

There is no specific rules. However, we recommend wines with a suggested retail price of JPY 1,500-5,000.

No, we have no regulations. We are accepting wines produced by male winemakers as well.

No, we only accept wines made from 100% grapes.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/rules.html

If the residual sugar content is more than 45g/ℓ, please register it in the sweet wine category.

Yes! All winning wines will be posted on the Sakura Award official website and we send our official books to the trade. For those without importers, we have tasting events for importers to sample and encourage them to take on importation and distribution.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/sakuraaward/photos/?tab=album&album_id=3475989269093480

If you know the retail price in Japan or in your country, it is not necessary to put the EXC price. So please put "0" in the cell.
If you do not know the retail price in Japan, please put EXC price or enter "suggested retail price in your country".

SAMPLE DELIVERY

Please check below for the sample delivery address.

◆Delivery address
SEIWA KAIUN CO., LTD
29-5, HIGASHIOHGISHIMA, KAWASAKI-KU, KAWASAKI, KANAGAWA
210-0869, JAPAN 　TEL: +81-44-287-0921 PIC: MS. KUBOTA
Importer: WINE & SPIRITS CULTURE ASSOCIATION

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/sample.html

We are asking participants to send 2 bottles per item.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/sample.html

You can find out on MyPage.
We will update the information when we receive the package.

No, you do not have to pay the customs duty.
Please write “Samples, No Commercial Value” in your invoice and OUTER CARTON.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/sample.html

In the field of importer on your invoice, please write:
Importer: Wine and Spirits Culture Association
Address: Akasaka Office Heights Bldg. 4-13-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 Japan
TEL: 03-6229-1727

The deadline for sample delivery is Sunday, December 10th, 2023. In order to prepare for the judging session, please make sure to arrive by the date. The arrival of samples may be delayed due to various reasons, so please send samples as soon as possible.
※Delayed arrival may not be included in the competition. In that case, there will be no refund of the entry fee.

Yes, you can send raw samples without official labels.
In that case, please put the sample label or barrel samples with all the necessary information such as winery, name of the wine, vintage and so on.
It is possible with hand writing. You may write the new vintage over the old etiquette by hand.

JUDGEMENT

The total number of judges is approximately 500 to 600.
The criteria for the judges are as follows:
(1) Female Japanese or foreigner who work in Japan.
(2) Sommeliers, winemakers, wine lecturers, wine journalists, wine importers, wine distributors, wine stores, and other wine and liquor related professionals, and wine experts (qualified).
In addition, some special judges.

Judging is conducted by panels of five judges. Each panel includes a trained Panel Captain to facilitate the judging process and record keeping integrity. The wines will be tasted blind by the category and grape variety. The judges will know (1) varietals, (2)vintage, (3)residual sugar (4) barrel aging if applicable. The judges will give each wine an individual score using the 100 point scale.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/outline.html

No. The judges select the dish written on the score sheet, which they feel the most suitable for the wine. (Target: Diamond Trophy, Double Gold, Gold Award)

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/outline.html

We will focus on Bio Wine (organic farming, biodynamic, sustainable, vegan, etc.). However, we will not judge bio wine separately at the judging session.
The wine category
After the awarded wines are selected, we will announce Awarded Bio Wine on our official website. We will reconfirm the information submitted at the entry and publish them. The procedure is as follows;
*We will confirm to the importers if the wine has been already in Japanese market.
*If the wine is not in Japanese market yet, or the open market wines, they will be listed based on the entry information.

The judgement event is open to the press and anyone in the wine industry. You will be able to see how the judging process is actually carried out. Please register from the press application window on the Sakura Award official website.

AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT

Please visit the official announcement schedule. The results of the awards will be annoucned to entry companies and distributors as soon as possible after the winning wines are selected.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/schedule.html

Yes, we will correct the information only for this year's award-winning items. Please download the request form from the URL below, correct them and send it back to the Sakura Award office by e-mail.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/files/faq/ERRATA_Awarded_wine.xlsx

To consumers we ask you to wait until the official announcement is made, but for business-to-business situation you are free to inform them prior to the announcement.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/schedule.html

We ask to wait for the official announcement.
We only notify award recipients, not all the participants.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/entry/schedule.html

We do not provide score/s.

DIPLOMA

You can download the diploma free of charge on MyPage.
Please note that only entry company can download it.

MEDAL LOGO

The awarded company can download the medal logo data from MyPage at free of charge. For others, a pledge agreement must be signed before downloading.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/result/medallogo_dl.html

Yes, you can download the medal logo via MyPage and use it for printing. We don't charge you for this service.

No, it's not fixed. You can change the size as you want.

Please proceed to the purchase page of Tenprint Co., Ltd.

https://tenprint.shop2.multilingualcart.com/index.html?tsuka_conv=JPY&lang_id=en

No, the award-winning medal logo cannot be used if the lot has been changed.

Please visit our official website and proceed to the download page for various data. It can be downloaded free of charge. If you have any questions, please contact the “SAKURA” Japan Women's Wine Awards Office by email.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/download.html

Yes, you can use it. We will ask you to submit a quality assurance certificate proving that the new label or different packaging is the same wine as the winning wine. Please download the documents from the following URL and submit them by attaching to the Email to Sakura Award office.

＊Quality certificates for award-winning wines
http://www.sakuraaward.com/files/faq/Quqlity_Certifcation.zip

SALES PARTNER

We would like you to contact them from our website.

http://www.sakuraaward.com/en/sales/sales.html

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