Organizers of a wine competition in the United States have refused to evaluate wines from Russia.

The San Francisco competition organizers claimed that wine from 15 Russian wineries had entered the competition by mistake and disqualified them before the competition even began. The import of alcohol from Russia into the United States has been banned since 2022.

Russian wines were mistakenly included in the San Francisco International Wine Competition's entry list and removed before the judging began, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing the organizers.

The competition took place in early December. Its president, Amanda Blue, apologized for the error and excluded the Russian wines from the list of participants, adding that the competition "takes full responsibility for the error." The wines were produced by 15 wineries (95 bottles in total).

According to Blue, after "consulting with lawyers and management," the competition organizers concluded that these wineries were ineligible to participate due to US sanctions. The wines were not judged, and the wineries' entry fees would be refunded, she added.

Since March 2022, the import of alcohol from Russia into the United States has been banned under sanctions. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the inclusion of Russian wine in the competition has sparked "outrage among pro-Ukrainian activists."

The San Francisco International Wine Competition is hosted by the Tasting Alliance, an organization founded in 1980 that organizes a number of spirits competitions, including the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the Asia World Spirits Competition. Spirits producers submit their products, and a panel of experts judges all samples blind.

As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, the awards from these competitions are not prestigious, but wineries often highlight them among their achievements, particularly when it comes to winning a double gold medal—the highest honor at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

In total, about 2,000 applications were submitted to the competition this year.

Russia considers Western sanctions illegal.