AWARDS WINE: Top drops
31st October, 2007 by db_staff - This article is over multiple pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7• Final date for wine delivery: 19 March 2008
• Judging week: 21-26 April 2008
• Results announced to trade: 20 May 2008 at the London International Wine Fair
• Results published: 3 Sept 2007
The International Wine Challenge (IWC) www.internationalwinechallenge.com
• Over 9,000 entries received
• More than 40,000 bottles are logged, categorised and coded by grape variety, style, country and region of origin
• For the tasting process, wines are “flighted” into groups of eight to 14 wines of the same category, wrapped in a bag (to ensure the tasting is blind) and tagged
• In 2007, over 465 winemakers, merchants and writers from around the world took part in the judging process
• If a wine is judged faulty at any stage, a replacement bottle is found and the suspect bottle sent to the faults clinic for analysis
• First round, all wines entered are tasted and wines from particular regions are tasted against each other. Wines scoring above 85 points are deemed medal worthy and sent to the second round to join the “seeds”. Wines that score less than 84 are sent for re-tasting by the co-chairmen to ensure that a good wine has not been missed
• Second round: wines scoring above 84 points in round one are assessed again. Co-chairmen re-taste all wines to endorse judges’ decision, medals are confirmed, then the bottle’s identity is confirmed
• Final round: co-chairmen taste all gold medal winning wines against others in the same category, with the best considered for a trophy
• Judges decide the winners of special trophies and the champion wines
Key dates
• Final date for submission forms: 7 March 2008
• Final date for wine samples: 21 March 2008
• Judging: 14-25 April 2008
• Results announced to trade: 20 May 2008 at the London International Wine Fair