It's the largest fundraising event in the area. The Finger Lakes International Wine Competition is taking place in Rochester this weekend! More than 50 judges will rate and decide the fate of the vintage wines. YNN's Mary McCombs takes us there.

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- If you have an appreciation for fine wine, then you know each step is very important in the wine-making process. From the growing and harvesting of the grapes, to the bottling, the owners of area wineries await to have the their product rated!

Bob Madill, Winery owner said, “The ultimate judgment of the marketplace. Do people really like the wine, and if they do, how much do they like the wine?"

The 12th annual International Wine Competition kicked off at the Rochester Plaza hotel Saturday morning. The two-day event promotes the entire wine industry and showcases vintages from the Finger Lakes region. Peter Parts is one of the event founders.

Event founder, Peter Parts said, “Let's do a competition where we bring in great judges, bring in the New York wines, but then have other wines from around the world come in and let's see how the New York wines do and quite frankly they do really, really well."

The judges are from more than a dozen countries and bring with them well tuned palates and an international appreciation of wine. They split into a panel of four to five members who will taste some 32-hundred wines from 22 countries. Bonnie Villacampa studied the wine industry in Spain. She said a lot goes into the tasting process.

Villacampa said, “The visual effect of the wine, whether it's clear, and if it's the correct color and then the second is the smell. It's supposed to, each varietal is supposed to have certain characteristics and then of course the final is the taste and the very last is the finish, how long it lasts, the taste once you spit it out."

This two day event goes well beyond judges searching for top wines. The proceeds from this event go to Camp Good Days and Special times, a local organization dedicated to helping improve the quality of life for those people battling cancer.

“Camp Good Days isn't designed to cure cancer, but it cures attitudes, and in my mind, cured attitudes help cure cancer and it makes a big difference for a heck of a lot of kids from here and really around the world,” said Parts.

Organizers said an event like this helps promote wines from New York State and it gives vineyard owners a chance to boast if their product takes top honors.

"In a competition like this, you're hoping well for many good things and sometimes we do well, and other times not so well,” said Madill.

The winners will be announced sometime next week and those award winning wines will be featured during the Camp Good Day's wine auction next month .