The International Wine and Spirit Competition – 2006 results

The International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) is one of the most prestigious wine competitions in the world. Based in Surrey in the UK, its Olympian mission is to promote the quality and excellence of the world’s best wines, spirits and liqueurs. It has a long pedigree too - it has been running since 1969.

This year the IWSC received a record 6,000 entries from 73 countries, including Mongolia. I have no idea what Mongolian wine is like, but like all competitions, you just have to be in it to win it!

For every wine entered there is a rigorous two-stage judging process. Every wine is tasted blind (you don’t even see a bottle) before being followed up with detailed chemical analysis.

Each year judging runs from March to June. The 2006 winners have just been announced on 20th July in six medal categories:

Trophy

Gold – Best in Class

Gold

Silver- Best in Class

Silver

Bronze

This year I took part in judging the New Zealand wine entries, with 166 medals awarded. New Zealand also took two of the top Trophy awards.

The Pinot Noir Trophy, (awarded to the best Pinot regardless of origin), went to Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough 2004 (previous winners include Hamilton Russell, Ata Rangi and Yering Station). The Sauvignon Blanc Trophy meanwhile was given to Astrolabe Marlborough 2005.

Worldwide there are plenty of great wines picking up high marks including examples from humble origins. The UK’s Nyetimber got the Trophy for Bottle fermented sparkling wine, while the Syrah/Shiraz Trophy was awarded to Jackson-Triggs from Canada. And hurrah for those!

If you’re wondering how France fared then how about Bordeaux’s Château d'Aiguilhe 2001 Côtes de Castillon. This won the Frescobaldi Trophy for Vintage Red wine (£18.95 in Waitrose by the way).

The competition details, including how the judging operates and how medals are awarded are available on the IWSC website. Most importantly, all the medal winners in every category are listed there too in a searchable database.

Go have a look at www.iwsc.net for hundreds of great wines.

I’ll be judging there again next year!