International Wine Challenge Announce 2009 Trophies and Great Value Wine Awards

The world’s most prestigious and influential independent wine competition, the International Wine Challenge (IWC), has unveiled the results of the 2009 Great Value Wine and Trophy Awards.
With 13 Great Value Wine Awards along with a record 122 wines awarded a Trophy, it has been a great year for the wine industry. The highly acclaimed wines have already undergone the Challenge’s rigorous judging process, but in this final stage the wines can be tasted up to six times, ensuring that those awarded a Trophy or Great Value Wine Award are truly the best of the best.

For the complete list of winners head to 'Results' at the top navigation bar and select either 'Great Value Winners' or 'Trophy Awards'.

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International Wine Challenge Announce 2009 Medal Winners

The 26th International Wine Challenge (IWC) unveils the results of the 2009 Challenge. Entries came from a record 41 countries, with 304 Gold medals awarded, up 13% on last year.
Retaining the top gold medal nation status is France with 49 medals, closely followed by Australia and then Portugal. English wine's obtained a record 24 medals with an exceptional result for English winemaking legend, Bob Lindo who recieved Gold for Camel Valley Bacchus 2007. It was the most successful year ever for the Japanese Sake category, the style of Junmai Daiginjo most impressed the judges collecting eight Golds.

For advanced searching for the trade, IWC entrants and the press, please use the IWC trade search:

Enter the Octavian Vaults Library Collection 2009

Closing date for entries and samples extended to June 24th 2009.

Each year the tasting focuses on 10 year old and 5 year old wines. The 2009 tasting will review the 1999 and 2004 vintages. The Octavian Vaults Library Collection provides a fantastic and unique opportunity to reach new customers and educate them in the benefits of trading up.

The International Wine Challenge is acknowledged as the most influential blind tasting in the world. The Octavian Vaults Library Collection is a natural extension of this as it follows the same rigorous judging principles. The aim of the Library Collection is to demonstrate the merits of premium wines and their cellaring potential.

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2008 Trophy Winners

Of the 267 wines awarded gold medals 90 wines have been elevated from gold medal to trophy status following a further rigorous blind tasting.

Following two weeks of blind tasting to establish the medal rankings, the IWC co-chairmen Tim Atkin MW, Sam Harrop MW, Charles Metcalfe and Derek Smedley MW hosted a separate trophy tasting for their newly appointed panel chairs as well as their senior judges. It was the balance, personality and finesse of these exemplary wines that distinguished them as deserving of an IWC trophy.

A total of 116 trophies were awarded. The majority of wines picked up a single trophy however some extraordinary examples were found to be deserving of a host of awards. Most notably, francophiles will be delighted to hear that a Burgundy has received four trophies whilst on the other side of the earth both the Australians and New Zealanders can rejoice with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra and a Pinot Noir from Central Otago also walking away with four trophies a piece:

France has regained the crown for the most trophies which Australia had narrowly snatched from it last year whilst Portugal has made it to third place in the trophy stakes for a third year running. Argentina has recorded its best record to date with six trophies, beating Chile’s very respectable five, amongst them the international trophies for Cabernet Franc and Tannat. The trophy winning wines hail from 16 different countries. The top five are as follows:

Trophies by country 2008: France (20), Australia (18), Portugal (13), Italy (10), Spain (8) & Japan (8 for Sake).

As usual, the IWC has rewarded regional excellence and specificity with trophies for Maipo, Jurançon, Pernand-Vergelesses, Dão and Castilla y León among the regular, more expected winners.

“The judges responded to an even wider range of entries than ever before not only with 35 regional trophies, 26 national trophies, 18 international trophies but also by awarding trophies to all the grapes you can think of – and then some, examples being Aglianico, Fiano and Tannat,” explained IWC co- chairman Charles Metcalfe.

Click here for the complete list of trophy winning wines.