International Wine & Spirit Competition 2008 - Winning Wines
LONDON, May 20/PRNewswire/ --
News breaks today of the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2008
winning wines from the Northern Hemisphere, as judged by over 70
professionals from around the globe, in this, the best established wine
competition in the UK.
In a series of highly structured, blind tastings held over the last 10
weeks, the judging teams assessed over 3000 light and fortified wines from
Europe, Asia and USA & Canada in the first stage of their three-fold judging
programme. Southern Hemisphere wines and all Spirits each also have a
dedicated tasting and announcement schedule that follow later this summer.
Only 2% of these fine wine entries, attained the highly sought after
Gold, or Gold 'Best in Class' medals, the latter of which are awarded to the
products that perform best within their category.
IWSC Competition Director, Frances Horder said;
"The quality, diversity and sheer numbers were markedly increased this
year. It is only because of our stringent evaluation system that the quantity
of medals is not greater, but the rigorous judging limits the awards to the
best of the best."
The charts show
- Triumphant countries with the highest number of medals by percentage of
entries:
- England proving that the quality is definitely there with a
staggering 96% of English wines winning awards, including the now
legendary Nyetimber vineyard picking up a Gold 'Best in Class' for
their Classic Cuv=E9e 2001
- In a surprising result, Israel produced 91% success in being
awarded medals across their entries with lead producers Yarden
Golan Heights, Carmel, Recanati, Dalton & Tishbi Estate Winery
repeatedly picking up wins.
- Top three country with the most entries & medals:
- France leads the way with highest number and proportion of Golds
for its entries: with x2 Gold & an outstanding x17 Gold Best in
Class medals, equivalent to 2.4% of the French entries, plus the
highest number of awards in total at 524
- Spain takes x5 Gold (including x4 Best in Class) for its fortified
wines and a further 10 Golds (of which x7 were Best in Class) for
its light wines. Total medals given to Spain bring them in at
number 2 after France, with 442 awards.
- Portugal brings in 16 Gold Best in Class for its Ports, and 3 Gold
Best in Class for their light wines. A total medal tally of 432
brings Portugal in only just behind Spain.
- New to the competition:
- China entered wines for the first time this year and with Japanese
wines up 75% and Indian wine entries up 38% from 2007, the Asian
market is showing characteristic determination to penetrate new
markets.
- 13 is not an unlucky number for Turkey, with their wines earning
that number of medals, many by Kavaklidere Saraplari who will be
exhibiting at LIWF this week, as part of the newly founded generic
body; Wines of Turkey
The IWSC will be exhibiting at London International Wine Trade Fair at
ExCel, 20th-22nd May 2008. Stand Q30.
Full results: http://www.iwsc.net
Source: International Wine & Spirit Competition 2008 (IWSC)
Further information: Media enquiries: David Lindsay or Yvonne May: Lindsay May PR, e-mail: david@lindsay-may.co.uk , Tel: +44(0)207-470-8890; Trade enquiries: Grant Collier, Deputy Competition Director, International Wine & Spirit Competition e-mail: Grant@iwsc.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1483-542707.
2008-05-19 19:04:35 0365765 PRNEWSWIRE