IWSC Releases Beautiful South Wine Results to coincide with London Olympia trade tasting

IWSC Releases Beautiful South Wine Results

to coincide with London Olympia trade tasting

Today (10^th September), the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) announced its South African, Chilean and Argentine wine results at the Wines of the Beautiful South, London Olympia.

A strong performance was seen by South Africa, as they topped the Beautiful South medal leader board with an impressive 632 medals. Eight Gold Outstanding medals were awarded in the competition, South Africa picked up seven of these as well as 29 Gold. Highlights include leading wine and spirit producer KWV picking up 22 medals and Nederburg Wines being awarded three of the eight Gold Outstanding medals.

Producers in Chile also performed well, the country collected 375 medals, including a Gold Outstanding for its Casas del Bosque Syrah Pequenas Producciones 2012 and four Silver Outstanding medals were awarded to white wines all from the Aconcagua Region.

Among Argentina’s 234 medal haul, it was the country’s famous Malbec wines from Mendoza, which stood out and were awarded four Gold medals.

Brazil, hot on the heels of Chile and Argentina, picked up 19 medals including five Silver medals. Four of these were awarded to sparkling wines, a style which the country has recently been praised for. 

The supermarkets put in a strong performance, Tesco was awarded 11 medals including a Silver for its Finest* Stellenbosch Red 2011. Sainsbury’s picked up eight medals, with its Taste the Difference Morador Malbec 2013 winning a Bronze. Lidl’s Cimarosa Chilean Pedro Jimenez 2013 was awarded a Silver medal. Aldi was awarded a Bronze for its The Exquisite Collection Uco Valley Malbec 2014.

IWSC General Manager, Ewan Lacey commented, “South Africa has done extremely well in this year’s Beautiful South results. The IWSC hosted showcases in South Africa and South America earlier this year, and the level of wines highlighted was very high. Looking at the results as a whole, it was interesting to see that 2013 vintages were the strongest in this year’s competition.”

For the full list of Southern Hemisphere winners, go to www.iwsc.net

Notes to editors:

For more information please contact Holly Axelrad at Green Row, Holly@greenrow.co.uk

·        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 are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary.

·        IWSC has appointed Laura Catena as the 2014 president. 

·        The 2014 Annual Awards Banquet will be held on Wednesday 12^th November, at The Guild Hall, City of London.

·        The IWSC has partnered with Wines Direct to promote its top 2014 award winning wines. The price comparison website will allow consumers to search for medal winners by country, variety, colour, region, or retailer. The website will also show judges’ tasting notes for wines which has won trophy, gold, gold outstanding and silver outstanding.