2022 Wine Awards: IWSC announces trophy winners

Highlights:

• IWSC announces results from 2022 wine trophy tasting
• 20 trophies awarded to wines including entrants from Mexico and England plus an orange wine
• South Africa reaffirms its standout performance in the 2022 awards, securing four of the 20 trophies

Following the IWSC’s medal announcements earlier this year, an elite team of judges were gathered to retaste the 2022 gold medal winning wines, selecting the best of the best, for this year’s trophy winners.

With more than 4,000 wine tasted over the course of the 2022 awards, the experts selected 20 wines as this year’s trophy winners.

The 2022 top twenty trophy winning wines include 3 sparkling wines, 5 fortified wines, 2 dessert wines and ten still wines.

For the first time a still wine from Mexico has been awarded an IWSC trophy. The Edición Limitada Cabernet Franc 2020, Monte Xanic was one of five red wines to receive this accolade. A still wine from England was also awarded one of the twenty trophies: Lyme Bay Winery’s 2020 Pinot Noir. From Canada the Small Blessings Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 from Blasted Church Vineyards was awarded a trophy and the remaining two red trophy winners were Cercatoja 2017, Tenuta del Buonamico from Tuscany in Italy, and Reserve Pinotage 2016, Rijk's Cellar from South Africa’s Western Cape.

Further highlighting the country’s standout performance at this year’s awards, three South African white wines were awarded a trophy:

• Barrique 2019, Vrede en Lust, Western Cape
• GPS Series Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 2020, Richard Kershaw Wines, Western Cape
• The Vineyard Collection Grenache Blanc 2021, Perdeberg Wines, Western Cape

A trophy was also awarded to an orange wine. From Georgia’s Kakheti region, Kartuli Vazi Select Orange Rkatsiteli 2020, Tifliski Vini Pogreb was recognised with the IWSC’s highest medal. And the final still white wine to receive a trophy this year came from New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay region: 125 Chardonnay 2020, Trinity Hill.

Five fortified wines were recognised with a 2022 IWSC trophy:

• Viña Dulce Nombre NV, Gonzalez Byass S.A, Xerez, Spain
• Oloroso VORS NV, Emilio Lustau, Xerez, Spain
• Malvasia 20 YO Sweet NV, Justino's Madeira Wines, S.A. Portugal
• Single Cask Sercial Dry 2005, Justino's Madeira Wines, S.A., Portugal      
• Superior Moscatel  2010, Casa Ermelinda Freitas, Portugal      

And three sparkling wines, two from Prosecco’s highest tier, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, and a magnum of Champagne, showcasing the quality to be found in this larger bottle format:

• Terra De Ru Extra Dry 2021, Cantina Bernardi, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore
• Brut NV Anna Spinato, Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore Di Cartizze
• Brut 2014 (Magnum) Piper-Heidsieck, Champagne

Dirceu Vianna Junior MW, IWSC Wine Judging Committee member and one of the trophy panel judges comments: “Tasting the best wines of the competition with some of the most competent judges in the land is a real privilege; but a privilege that carries a lot of responsibility.

“Standards are always high and the fact that we are given limited information about each wine ensures that the Trophy tasting is a level playing field.

“Any country, any region and any producer can win and the fact that we had winners from Mexico, British Columbia and Essex illustrates that. In addition, we had some exceptional examples of great classic wines of the world that won trophies.

“The IWSC is a tough but fair competition. We encourage producers to send their very best wines in when the 2023 awards open in October to be assessed by tasters that are talented and commercially relevant since most are buyers.”

For a full list of the IWSC’s 2022 winners, visit the results page on the website.