With December upon us, it’s time to get a jump on the next New Year’s resolutions.

At the top of my list: Start a wine competition. Why not? They’re popping up all over the place. I just scanned the results for the International Wine Channel TV Awards, a competition for wines, not shows. Who knew?

More to the point, why not grab some of what might seem easy money? I just finished a two-year stint as a chief judge for the California State Fair’s commercial and home wine competitions. I know the money isn’t easy. Nevertheless, it’s there.

Competitions typically charge wineries at least $50 per entry. Wineries also customarily submit three to six bottles of each wine they enter. Larger competitions generally draw 1,000 to 2,000 entries, a couple 4,000 to nearly 6,000.

There’s money to be made there, all right, even aside from expenses such as judges’ travel, dining and lodging. Then there’s the cost of medals, and the investment in publishing results and staging follow-up tastings. Wait a minute, wineries often pay a premium to take advantage of all that, too.