Results out now!

News breaks today of the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2008 winning wines from the Northern Hemisphere, as judged by over 70 professionals from around the globe, in this, the best established wine competition in the UK.

[ClickPress, Sun May 18 2008] In a series of highly structured, blind tastings held over the last 10 weeks, the judging teams assessed over 3,000 light and fortified wines from Europe, Asia and USA & Canada in the first stage of their three-fold judging programme. Southern Hemisphere wines and all Spirits each also have a dedicated tasting and announcement schedule that follow later this summer.
Only 2% of these fine wine entries, where the average retail price is £9+ per bottle, attained the highly sought after Gold, or Gold ‘Best in Class’ medals, the latter of which are awarded to the products that perform best within their category.


IWSC Competition Director, Frances Horder said;
“The quality, diversity and sheer numbers were markedly increased this year. It is marvellous to see some serious wines coming in from Asia and New Europe, whilst some of our most traditional producers such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have all shown gains in awards. It is only because of our stringent evaluation system that the quantity of medals is not greater, but the rigorous judging limits the awards to the best of the best.”




All entries of are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary. Awards are made on a points system and sponsored trophies are presented in selected categories. Technical analysis is carried out on Gold, Gold (Best in Class), Silver (Best in Class) award winning wines, spirits and liqueurs to ensure that all products are technically sound and will be of the same high quality when they reach the consumer as they were when the judging panels originally tasted them.


The charts show
Triumphant countries with the highest number of medals by percentage of entries:
Ø England proving that the quality is definitely there with a staggering 96% of English wines walking away with a medal, including the now legendary Nyetimber vineyard picking up a Gold ‘Best in Class’ for their Classic Cuvée 2001
Ø In a surprising result, Israel produced 91% success in winning medals across their entries with lead producers Yarden Golan Heights, Carmel, Recanati, Dalton & Tishbi Estate Winery repeatedly picking up awards.
Top three country with the most entries & medals:
Ø France leads the way with highest number and proportion of Golds for its entries: with x2 Gold & an outstanding x17 Gold Best in Class medals, equivalent to 2.4% of the French entries, plus the highest number of awards in total at 524
Ø Spain takes x5 Gold (including x4 Best in Class) for its fortified wines and a further 10 Golds (of which x7 were Best in Class) for its light wines. Total medals given to Spain bring them in at number 2 after France, with 442 wins.
Ø Portugal brings in 16 Gold Best in Class for its Ports, and 3 Gold Best in Class for their light wines. A total medal tally of 432 brings Portugal in only just behind Spain.
New to the competition:
Ø China entered wines for the first time this year and with Japanese wines up 75% and Indian wine entries up 38% from 2007, the Asian market is showing characteristic determination to penetrate new markets. Watch this space for their performance in the year ahead!
Ø 13 is not an unlucky number for Turkey, with their wines having tentatively tiptoed into the IWSC for the first time last year, they were up a staggering 900% this year on entries – and have been rewarded with 13 medals. The single winery sweeping up most of these is Kavaklidere Saraplari, who are exhibiting at LIWF this week as part of the newly founded generic body; Wines of Turkey.


Allen Gibbons, Executive Director of the IWSC, concluded;
“The global wine industry is now broader than ever, with Britain continuing to provide a international platform for emerging producers alongside of the traditional wine producing countries. On our stand this week at the London Wine Fair we will be showing some of the winning wines from across the Northern Hemisphere. There are tutored tastings covering fine Champagnes, the wines of England, Germany, Italy, Spain and Fortified wines through to an open tasting the newer entries although it may perhaps be a little misleading to describe Turkey as an emerging producer, given that wine-making can be traced back to biblical times in the region."


The IWSC will be exhibiting at ExCel, London 20th-22nd May 2008. Stand Q30.


Full results of the IWSC 2008 wine awards will be out today: www.iwsc.net


IWSC Exclusive
Live at London International Wine Fair;
Competition results on TastingBuddy’s “The List”
The List - a joint venture between Brintex, the organisers of the LIWF, and TastingBuddy, the on-line wine list company - will enable visitors to search and select from the estimated 30,000 wines at the Fair and locate the triumphant wines from the IWSC 2008. http://www.tastingbuddy.com/frmCatalogueManagement.aspx?tl2012&homepage=yes


Ends.
Date: 20.05.08


Further information:
Media enquiries:
David Lindsay or Yvonne May: Lindsay May PR
e-mail: david@lindsay-may.co.uk Tel: ++ 44 (0) 207 470 8890
Trade enquiries:
Grant Collier, Deputy Competition Director, International Wine & Spirit Competition
e-mail: Grant@iwsc.co.uk Tel: + 44 (0) 1483 542707










Notes for Editor:

The International Wine and Spirit Competition was founded in 1969 and is the premier competition of its kind in the world. Its aim is to promote the quality and excellence of the world's best wines, spirits and liqueurs.
All entries of wines, spirits and liqueurs are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary. Awards are made on a points system and sponsored trophies are presented in selected categories. Technical analysis is carried out on Gold, Gold (Best in Class), Silver (Best in Class) award winning wines, spirits and liqueurs to ensure that all products are technically sound and will be of the same high quality when they reach the consumer as they were when the judging panels originally tasted them.



The Competition is supported by a group of Vice Presidents made up of some of the most influential men and women in the trade, including Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Miguel Torres, Marchese Piero Antinori, Robert Drouhin, Robert Mondavi, May de Lencquesaing, Gina Gallo and this years President; Rafael Guilisasti



www.iwsc.net



Judging procedure
:
Products are assessed by region/area; variety/style/type; vintage/age.
• Samples are pre-poured in numbered glasses to ensure anonymity
• Scores are recorded electronically
• The number of samples tasted by session are limited to prevent palate fatigue



Wines and spirits that win awards may then go forward to the appropriate trophy category, where they compete at national or international level.



Results are determined through a rigorous two stage judging process of professional blind tasting and detailed (chemical and microbiological) analysis.



Entries must be available in commercial quantities to eliminate the possibility of ‘show’ products participating and must be from an identifiable batch or lot.



The Competition is unusual in that all top medal winners are subject to technical analysis before results are released.



Corkwise, an independent laboratory looks after the technical analysis of Competition winners.




Marking system:
90 – 100 GOLD Outstanding example; setting the standard
80 – 89.9 SILVER Fine example; excellent quality
75 – 79.9 BRONZE Good example; well above average
Top scoring products also receive a ‘Best in Class’ accreditation and will be eligible to compete for Trophies. If a panel cannot reach a consensus the flight is referred to a second panel to ensure a democratic decision.



The panel:
The IWSC boasts a highly qualified, trained group of international judges. Judges are selected for their knowledge and experience, and in order to ensure that products are evaluated fairly and with consumer expectations in mind, qualified/knowledgeable consumer judges work alongside MWs
and prominent trade judges. All judges, including MWs must complete an induction and may also be asked to attend a trial-judging day before being permitted to judge on a panel. Judges are constantly reviewed. The Chair judge reviews any dispute. Panel members are balanced according to the subject being evaluated.

Technical Analysis:
Wine analysis includes: free and total sulphur dioxide, iron, copper, total acidity, volatile acidity (acetic acid), pH, ascorbic acid, sugar, alcohol, sugar free extract and microbiology. In addition, certain wines will be screened by gas chromatography for methanol, sorbitol, potential contaminants and other illegal additives (GCMs). Spirit analysis includes: alcohol and sugar content, as well as screening by gas chromatography for possible illegal additives. Spirits are assumed to be bright unless otherwise advised by the entrant.

Bookmark this release: Del.icio.us - Digg - Furl - Blinklist - Reddit