A Vintage Year For England

International Wine & Spirit Competition announces 2013 Winners

A Vintage Year for England

The International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) widely acknowledged as the most prestigious and independent contest of its type in the world, has announced the winners from its rigorous judging: the tastings last seven months with over 300 judges from 30 countries. The winners were announced at last night’s awards ceremony held at The Guildhall in London, attended by the industry’s most renowned including Wolf Blass, Anthony Von Mandl and G. Garvin Brown IV, the IWSC President for 2013.  Laura Catena, fourth generation Argentine vintner, was announced as the President for 2014, marking the 45th year of the International Wine and Spirit Competition.

The International Wine and Spirit Competition’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Anna Grant, said, ‘The entries for the IWSC have once again been of exceptional standard. Now approaching its 45^th anniversary, The International Wine and Spirit Competition still has the same unrivalled judging process that it started with in 1969.’

The full list of winners is printed in the accompanying supplement however; the following trends dominated 2013:

·        Gusbourne beat international competition to pick up the Bottle Fermented Sparkling Wine Trophy – AND they got English Wine Producer of the Year English producers have won more medals than ever before. English winners achieving Gold and Silver awards this year are the sparkling wine estates including Gusbourne Estate in Kent, Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking and Furleigh Estate in Dorset. The prestigious Gold award was presented for Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2008; this producer is a favourite at Buckingham Palace and meticulously ensures each grape is carefully picked by a team of dedicated villagers, mainly pensioners to produce fine fizz.

·        The Julian Brind Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Achievement in the Wine Industry was awarded to London’s successful restaurateur Xavier Rousset MS, co-founder of Texture and 28-50 Wine Workshop and Kitchen.  

·        New World wines had a successful year, with Australia winning seven trophies and New Zealand winning three. Australian Wolf Blass picked up the Competition’s highest accolade, with chief winemaker Chris Hatcher receiving the distinguished honour of IWSC Winemaker of the Year. With over 40 years of experience, Chris became the chief winemaker at Wolf Blass in 1996. Success for the vineyard continued with a total of three trophies, two Gold Outstanding, two Gold, four Silver Outstanding and four Silver awards.

·        2013 was a strong year for wine and spirit admissions, especially for the gin category with a 20% increase in entrants. The category in England has benefitted from a surge of artisan micro-distilleries producing quality gin in small batches, making the group extremely competitive. The Gin Guild awarded Adnams Copper House Distilled Gin as the trophy winner, launched only three years ago, this winning gin is made in a hand-made copper pot still using the ‘London Dry Gin’ method. Overall the gin category had a successful two Gold Outstanding, three Gold, 25 Silver Outstanding and 47 Silver medals. Adnams has also announced that it will soon be launching the anticipated Single Malt No.1 and Triple Grain No.2 whisky.

·        Scotland’s whisky specialist Dave Broom was awarded The Vinitaly Communicator of the Year Trophy. New for 2014 is Dave’s bookWhisky: A User’s Guide on the enjoyment of whisky.

·        French winning wines were abundant with over 800 medals announced, including 32 gold medals, followed closely by Italy with over 600 and Spain with over 550 medals.

Ewan Lacey, General Manager of the IWSC said, ‘Gin is on trend and it is a very exciting time for the category. For such a new distillery, it is a very well deserved win for the Southwold based gin.’

For further information on The International Wine and Spirits Competition please visit http://www.iwsc.net/home

Editors’ notes:

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 2013 President: G. Garvin Brown IV, Chairman of Brown-Forman Corporation’s Board of Director and an Executive Vice President of the corporation.

13^th November Awards Banquet at Guildhall, City of Londonn on The International Wine and Spirits Competition please visit http://www.iwsc.net/home