IWSC announces its Wine Supermarket of the Year 2022 shortlist

Each year the IWSC recognises individual drinks, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals to wines, wine-based drinks, spirits, low & no alternatives, RTDs and ciders. Looking beyond these bottles, we are also keen to recognise the creativity of the companies bringing these drinks to the customer. These companies are distinguished by our Business Awards.

The IWSC Wine Supermarket of the Year award was created to recognise the supermarkets innovating and adapting to a rapidly changing market as well as excelling in communicating its wine offer to its customers.

The judging panels for this year’s award comprised of experts from across the wine industry: three Masters of Wine - Ali Cooper, Junior Vianna and Sarah Abbott - as well as renowned industry expert Christine Parkinson. Christelle Guibert, CEO for the IWSC completed the panel.

When narrowing down the 2022 shortlist, our judges were looking for the businesses finding creative ways to improve the customer shopping experience, pioneering wine as part of their offer and thinking sustainably about the way they do business.

We are delighted to reveal our 2022 shortlist for the IWSC’s Wine Supermarket of the Year:

Aldi

While Aldi may be perceived as having a more limited range than other supermarkets, our judges recognised it can be harder to buy a tight range where you can only really have one of everything. Limited by its smaller store space, Aldi has curated a small but impactful range, showcasing a tight selection of regional and varietal styles and removing the confusion of multiple SKUs.

Further success during the past year from within the range included Aldi’s Champagne Veuve Monsigny, which has grown to become the UK’s second largest volume selling champagne.

The judges also flagged Aldi’s championing of some lesser-known regions, introducing their customers to wines from regions including Canada and Switzerland.

Aldi was also applauded for its consumer engagement initiatives, including its Aldi Wine School and its pop-up Champagne bar last winter.

Our judges were delighted to note the supermarket’s intention to grow its range at the more premium end.

Booths

Not constrained by some of the limitations placed upon its business as larger supermarkets tend to be, Booths’ customers are able to benefit from the retailer’s ability to cross-merchandise its range throughout its stores, showcasing wine recommendations on its cheese, meat and fish counters. In the past year, Booths has launched an instore wine bar in one of its stores, enabling customers to enjoy a sit down and a glass of wine, from a selection of 175 wines from within its range, for a nominal corkage fee on top of the bottle price.

As stores across its estate undergo a refurbishment, Booths has introduced new shelf edge labelling, providing customers with more information as well as trading-up suggestions. The refurbishment is also enabling the redevelopment of refrigeration and lighting in stores, bringing down the carbon footprint of each store as it is upgraded.

A more intimate, premium and local focus in its stores, Booths has been delighted to reintroduce its popular instore customer tastings. Relationships are key to Booths, both with its customers and its producers and for a team comprising only 1 buyer and a range of 600+ wines – our judges were incredibly impressed by both the breadth and depth of the range on offer.

Booths shows a genuine passion for wine, ensuring its customers have a selection of the classics, but also as they put it a range “speckled” with more esoteric listings.

M&S

Once again there is a feeling of great excitement for wine coming from M&S. Having recently introduced it’s “Found” range showcasing a refined range of off-the-beaten-track wines, M&S is showing that a wine range can be interesting and profitable.

The appointment of the supermarket’s wine ambassador Fred Sirieix was heralded as visionary – an engaging personality to champion the category.

The judges were delighted to hear of M&S further distancing itself on relying on price promotion to drive sales. Cutting back on its 25% off category promotions and its Dine In Wine offer.

Focusing on helping the consumers make the best choice, M&S is updating its shelf edge communication – sharing clearer information on press recommendations, awards, trading up suggestions and food matches. It has also started to introduce enomatic machines in selected stores to empower customers to try before they buy.

With its business model focussed on own label, in recent years M&S has been making it clearer who the winery and winemaker are on its bottles – which the judges saw as a nod to it being more of a partnership with the producer.

The supermarket appears to have achieved a huge amount in the past 12 months and things are looking incredibly exciting. There is a real sense of reinvigoration of what’s going on in the wine aisle, M&S is very clearly on a journey to refocus wine as a priority.

Waitrose

Expanding its in store tastings for customers and introducing producer tastings, Waitrose continues to grow its focus on its in-store wine experience.

Education remains at the heart of its drive to deliver the best service for customers with over 200 of its in-store advisors holding WSET qualifications. This number of ambassadors across its stores enables customers to enjoy an unparalleled shopping experience. Waitrose customers also benefit from a standout range of wines selected by its team of no fewer than four Masters of Wine.

Stocking local products across its stores, Waitrose has always been a leading light for the home-grown wine industry with no fewer than 60 English sparkling wines discovered in its flagship store by our judges.

Praised for its consistently excellent wine shopping experience and its quality wine range, Waitrose completes our 2022 shortlist for Wine Supermarket of the Year.

Our winner for Wine Supermarket of the Year will be announced on Tuesday 12 April.