‘Madeira Man’ Chris Blandy named new IWSC President

The International Wine and Spirits Competition have appointed Chris Blandy as their new president. Chris, CEO of Blandy’s Wines and its seventh generation owner will officially take up the prestigious position from November 17th.

The Blandy family have been producing Madeira on the island of the same name for over 200 years and Chris will be using his time as President to ‘continue to drive the Madeira renaissance’. Blandy’s Madeira has enjoyed much success in the IWSC, winning ‘Portuguese Producer of the Year’ alongside many other esteemed accolades.

“We were absolutely delighted when Chris accepted our offer of Presidency” said Allen Gibbons, Group CEO of the IWSC. “His passion, knowledge and enthusiasm to support global the work of the competition made him the obvious choice”.

Chris will be taking the reins from Matteo Lunelli, President of Italy’s Ferrari Trento Winery. Other notable previous presidents include Wolf Blass, Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild. The Presidency handover coincides with the announcement of the IWSC’s 2016 results which can be found here.

Established in 1969, the IWSC was the first competition of its kind, set up to seek out, reward and promote the world’s best wines, spirits and liqueurs. Now in its 47th year, The IWSC’s relentless pursuit of excellence underpins every aspect of the competition today.