Applications for The Americas & Asia Pacific judges now open!

The International Wine Challenge has announced a major new regional structure that will see the competition evolve into four regional wine competitions across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the United Kingdom.

These will be as follows: IWC Americas - 1-6 November 2026 - Mendoza IWC Asia Pacific - 30 November to 4 December -Adelaide IWC Europe - 5-9 April 2027 - Montpellier IWC Global - 10-14 May 2027 - London

Under the new format, wines will continue to be judged blind by expert panels within their regions before Gold medal-winning wines progress to London for International Trophy judging in May next year.

Judges are now invited to apply to be part of the judging teams. In this new format we are only inviting judges that reside in those regions, So if you live in Chile, as an example, you will be invited to judge in IWC Americas. If you live in Australia, you will be invited to judge in IWC Asia Pacific, and so on. Priority will be given to local judges. However if you have a particular specialism that relates to another region or you will be in the area anyway, please let us know and we will try our best to get you in. Please ensure that your judges account is up to date.

We have also changed the format of judging. All judges will be paid and there will be a full program of events for the whole week. Judging teams will be in teams of 4 and have a Panel Chair and three judges (except in London). Our plan is to build a community of judges that will be part of the regional judging team. Judging will be peripatetic, so next year IWC Americas could be in Chile or Uruguay as an example, with as many of the same judges as possible each year.

If you wish to become an IWC wine judge in 2027 please complete the registration.

Please note: new judges should usually have qualified with a WSET Diploma (Level 4) in Wine. In exceptional cases we may accept WSET Level 3 if they are studying for the Diploma and working within the international wine trade. Advanced Master Sommelier qualifications are also accepted as an entry marker.