To access the full list of winners in the 2022 London Wine Competition click here.
There were a record 1,300 wines submitted to this year’s London Wine Competition with 36 countries taking part. This was a substantial increase in entries from 1,100 in 2021 in an event that only uses professional judges with wine trade and direct buying experience as its judges.
The competition is organised by the Beverage Trade Network and is part of the wider London Drinks Competitions that also include London Spirits and London Beer Competitions. The event is based on one key principle: to judges drinks – and wines – in the same way that consumers do when choosing what product to buy. By their quality and what they taste like, how much they cost and what they look like. Scores are awarded for each of the main criteria with a weighting given to the overall quality.
Of all the wines entered Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay were the top three grape varieties with most wines entered coming from Australia, Italy and Spain.
“We were blown away not just by the standard of wines entered but by the numbers of producers and importers that took part in the 2022 competition,” says London Wine Competition founder, Sid Patel, chief executive of the Beverage Trade Network. “This is our record year and shows how quickly the trade has taken to an event that has the end consumer in mind. All the finalists wines will now be available for consumers to search for online and will be heavily promoted to target wine drinkers through our various consumer websites around the world, including the London Drinks Guide. It has also been a privilege to work with all our talented judges, including Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers, who were able to share their expertise in picking out the wines they know their customers will want to buy.”
Some of the judging panel for the 2022 awards
Judging for the 2022 competition took place at St Mary’s Church in London’s Marylebone.
Salvatore Castano, winner of the Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa ASI in 2021, who is the on-trade advisor and assistant wine buyer at Friarwood Fine Wines says he was impressed by the quality of wines in the competition. “Judging the packaging is something unusual in a blind tasting but very important, because many people buy wines just looking at the bottle/label. The quality of the wines was good too. The most important criteria to look when buying a wine are the quality, the price and how the bottle and label looks like.”
The Top Winners in the 2022 London Wine Competition
Wine Of The Year – Gralyn Estate Artizan Rare Muscat, Australia.
Winery Of The Year – Champagne Besserat de Bellefon depuis 1843, France.
Best Wine By Quality – Gralyn Estate Artizan Rare Muscat, Australia.
Best Wine By Value – Adega de Pegões Touriga Nacional 2017, Portugal
Best Wine By Packaging – Gerald – Bubbly White Wine 2020, United Kingdom.
Best Wines by Country Awards
Australia – Gralyn Estate Artizan Rare Muscat.
Italy – Le Bastìe Rosso 2012
Portugal – Vila Jardim Selection 2020
Spain – La Pujada Vieilles Vignes 2015
France – Besserat de Bellefon Reserve Collection 1990.
United States – Silverado Vineyards Mt. George Vineyard Merlot 2018
Georgia – Mukuzani 2018
Moldova – Late Harvest Rhein Riesling 2017
South Africa – Piekenierskloof Bergendal Chenin Blanc 2020
Romania – Cuvée Uberland 2020
Best Wines by Varietal:
Shiraz – Gibson Reserve Shiraz 2019, Australia.
Merlot – Le Bastìe Rosso 2012, Italy.
Saperavi – Mukuzani 2018, Georgia.
Cabernet Sauvignon – Moss Brothers Moses Rock 2019, Australia.
Chardonnay – 2019 Ross Hill Pinnacle Chardonnay, Australia.
Tempranillo – Digma 2016, Spain.
