Judges at this year's Decanter World Wine Awards tasted a record-breaking 14,362 wines and awarded nearly 10,000 medals.
The Decanter World Wine Awards launched in 2004 with just over 4,000 wines, and is now celebrating its tenth anniversary as the world’s leading wine competition.
This year, 219 wine experts from 27 countries, including 75 Masters of Wine and 13 Master Sommeliers, gathered in London in April to taste 14,362 wine entries from around the world.
A total of 9,873 wines were awarded a Decanter medal: 156 Regional Trophies, 229 Gold medals, 1,665 Silver medals, 4,165 Bronze medals, and 3,658 Commendeds.
Winners of the highest accolade, the 32 International Trophies, will be announced on 4 September at a gala dinner at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
As the DWWA has grown, the percentage of medals awarded has remained constant. Last year, out of 14,120 wines there were 255 Gold Medals, or 1.8%. This year there were 229, or 1.59%.
Similar consistency can be seen across all medal levels. This year a total of 9,873 wines won a medal, or 68.74%. Last year the percentage was 69%, the two years previous to that it was 68%, and between 2004 and 2007 the average tally was 61%.
The highest number of entries came from Spain, with 1616 wines, followed by Australia (1104), South Africa (842) and Languedoc-Roussillon (815). There were 776 entries from Bordeaux and 479 from Burgundy. China sent 49 wines.
Armenia and Belgium sent one wine each. Egypt sent four wines, the Netherlands three, and Sweden two.
France won the most Regional Trophies, 29, followed by Italy and Australia with 15 each, Spain (13), South Africa (14) and Chile (10).
Other countries to win Regional Trophies were Turkey, with the Urla Nero D’Avola from the Aegean Coast region, Thailand, with the Monsoon Valley Late Harvest Chenin Blanc from Hua Hin, and Israel with Yarden Golan Heights Winery’s Yarden Heights from Galilee.
England won three Regional Trophies, only one of them for a sparkling wine, the Chapel Down Blanc de Blancs.
Gusbourne Estate took a Regional Trophy for its Guinevere Chardonnay, and Denbies won a Sweet Wine Regional Trophy for its Noble Harvest, made from the Ortega grape.
The full list of results from the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards are available on online and on the Decanter stand, J10, at the London International Wine Fair from 20-23 May.
Visitors to the LIWF will also have the opportunity to taste 145 DWWA-winning wines which are seeking UK distribution. These will be available on the Decanter stand at the Decanter World Wine Awards’ Unsigned Talent tasting, throughout the show.
On 27 June 2013, Decanter will be hosting a dedicated consumer tasting in London, giving wine lovers the opportunity to sample a selection of our finest DWWA-winners from the 2013 competition. More information at www.decanter.com/winnerstasting
Written by Adam Lechmere
