Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to pick the 2011 Reader Survey Wine of the Year and 2012 Wine to Watch!

The Reader Survey Wine of the Year is intended for the one Washington wine in 2011 that stood out among all those you tasted. The 2012 Wine to Watch is for a pre-release wine you tasted that will be released in 2012 that you believe will be exceptional.

Here is how it works.

Nominations
Saturday 12/3 to Tuesday 12/6 9pm
Nominate up to three Washington wines in each category via comment or e-mail ([email protected]). Please state whether the wine is to be considered for ‘2011 Wine of the Year’ or ‘2012 Wine to Watch.’

Preliminaries
Wednesday 12/7 to Sunday 12/11 9pm
Vote for any three wines in both categories from those wines nominated.

Finals
Sunday 12/11 to Friday 12/16 9pm
Vote for any one of the finalists.

See additional rules below.

Let the submissions begin!

Read about the 2010 Reader Survey Wine of the Year and 2011 Wine to Watch here; the 2009 Reader Survey Wine of the Year here and 2010 Wine to Watch here; and 2008 Reader Survey Wine of the Year here.

Rules (the fine print, literally):
* Wines can be nominated via email or by leaving a comment on the blog.
* Wines in both categories must be from Washington.
* Entrants for the Reader Survey Wine of the Year must have been released and/or available on shelves in 2011. In other words, don’t pick wines from several years back or several years forward. If this is the case these wines will be removed from the voting.
* Entrants for the 2012 Wine to Watch must be wines to-be-released in 2012. These would be barrel samples or bottle samples of wines you tasted this year that will be released next year. Any wines that have already been released will be removed from the voting.
* If more than three wines are sent in for either category, I will cap your list at the first three so be choosey!
* If I can’t determine which wines were intended for which category, I will not include them in the voting so please make sure to specify this. Wines must include a vintage listing otherwise they will not be included.
* Any wines that were previously considered for Reader Survey Wine of the Year will be removed from the voting.
* Any entries sent in after 9pm on December 6th will not be included in the voting.
* Nominations for each category will be capped at no more than 60 entries to keep subsequent voting manageable.
* Once the survey begins, readers may not cast more than one vote.
* Any evidence of multiple voting may lead to an entry being disqualified.
* Please note that I reserve the right to make changes to these rules if need be to preserve the spirit of the reader survey. If so this list will be updated as such.