Japanese Jubilation at International Wine Challenge as Sake and Wine grow from Strength to Strength

Japan cemented their position as an emerging wine region of star quality at the 30th annual International Wine Challenge winning a Gold medal for a Chardonnay for the first time.

Japanese wine pioneers Chateau Mercian scored Gold for its Hokushin Chardonnay 2011 from Yamanashi, the household name for wine making in Japan, proves that Japan has the skill to join in the international map of high quality wine producers. This Gold medal winning Chardonnay is a seminal moment for this emerging wine region.

• 25 Japanese Sakes also picked up Gold medals including Daiginjo Gokiyo Kitaya (2012), Kikuizumi Daiginjo (2012) and Nechi 2011 from Watanabe Shuzouten
• The 30th International Wine Challenge awarded 514 Gold medals this year, making it a record for quality with wines
• Entries were received from all over the world including Peru, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Lebanon and Thailand

The full press release and high resolution images can be downloaded below. To see the full results, please go to //www.internationalwinechallenge.com/

Quotation

Charles continued;

“The International Wine Challenge is unique and is widely regarded as the finest judged tasting in the world.  I know of no other wine competition in the world where each medal winner will have been blind tasted on a minimum of three separate occasions to ensure consistency and fairness. Our much-coveted medals are displayed on the bottles of winner which means consumers can instantly trust the quality of the product as it will have been tasted by the best wine judges in the world.”

About International Wine Challenge

• In its 30th year, the International Wine Challenge is accepted as the world’s finest and most meticulously judged competition. The IWC assesses every wine ‘blind’ and judges each for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage.  Each medal winning wine is tasted on at least three separate occasions by a minimum of 10 different judges.  Awards include medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and Commended awards.  The IWC is committed to helping consumers discover great wine, and the medals are displayed on winning bottles offer a trusted guarantee of  quality.

Visit the IWC website for the full list of winners www.internationalwinechallenge.com