The Buyer | Shortlists announced for People’s Choice Wine and Spirits Awards

To find out the finalists in the People’s Choice Wine and Spirits Awards, click the links below:

Wines: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/2026-finalists/

Spirits: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcsa/2026-finalists/

How did the judging go at the WSET in London?

The judging session was probably one of the best yet. We have a small cohort of long-term supporters who we invite back each year, as they have supported the awards from its inception and select new ‘enthusiastic’ wine consumers, via an online application process.

In addition, we include WSET students at all levels and industry professionals. We had around 40% professionals attending this time, made up of buyers, importers, sommeliers and even those working for vineyards or distilleries.

Buyers include a small team from Waitrose and trade representatives, such as Willoughby Andrews-King (of Vinoteca fame) are happy to sit on panels with a great mixture of experience.

It makes for a really relaxed and enjoyable session, and a valuable shared learning experience.

We are so grateful to the WSET School in London, which hosts the event, including the use of their fantastic facilities. It also circulates the judging application to its diploma students as many of them are already working in the industry (or looking for that career progression) and it gives them a great opportunity to test their new found systematic tasting skills.

Amazingly, we still have Ela Berger who comes over from Georgia in the US each year to take part, as well as others from around the UK and Europe, such is the excitement about being part of the event.

They have a very important job to do in selecting the finalist and medal winning wines and spirits in each ‘drinking moment’ category.

Anything else about the competitions we need to know about?

This will be the second year that we offer freee feedback and quotes from judges, which is hugely helpful for entrants. Any company, regardless of placing in the competitions, can access this information by contacting us after the awards ceremony.

It is of huge benefit and the feedback extremely valuable. It can be used on websites, trade listings and to circulate buying teams. With a more consumer-focused approach to the scoring criteria, including questions like ‘would you buy for yourself’, it is a key piece of free marketing data, which is a unique feature of the competitions.

We are also delighted to offer free PR support from Crate Communications – our PR partners. We have negotiated a great package of support for PCDA medallists and winners. Their senior PR experts will provide a free 30-minute confidential consultation to use in line with the needs of brands, retailers, producers and suppliers achieving a medal position in both the wines and spirits competitions.

They are available to offer consultation on:

An overview of the role of PR and/or social media (as appropriate).
A brief analysis of your current PR strategy and if it meets your requirements.
A stress test session to obtain non-biased feedback on ideas and provide added value input.
Overall counsel across brand communications, PR and social media.
A review of your channels (what’s working and what isn’t).

It is also preparing a consumer PR press office piece which will include a selection of category winners. The campaign aims to amplify the award received, support key stockists, win key opinion leaders in the drinks and consumer space and encourage consumers to trial winning drinks with a pipeline of content and coverage.

This level of practical support is unrivalled in the drinks awards space and all included free of charge, within the submission fee.

In general, entries have seen an increase in no/low alcohol categories, which is perhaps no surprise, given the amount of wines and spirits now available to buy in the UK, within this category.

The popularity for rosé wines shows no sign of decline, with the Rosé All Day category being one of the most popular, in terms of entry numbers.

This is the same for the Easy Weekday wine categories, reflecting the trend for lighter, more easy drinking weekday wines.

The on-trade categories, introduced last year, have been an interesting and much needed addition to the Awards.

Best House Wine, supported by The Buyer and Sommelier’s Choice, cover the two most popular drinking categories, for consumers when dining out. It also gives on-trade suppliers the opportunity to mention the medal on restaurant wine lists or offerings by the glass in a wine bar setting.

In terms of the spirits entries specifically, the entries were more diverse than ever before, with a good representation in most categories, not just for the ever-popular gin, rum and whiskies.

The Cocktail Hour category (across a range of spirits) probably showed the greatest uplift in entry numbers.

What can we look forward to at the People’s Choice Wine Awards 2026 in Manchester?

We will be returning to the iconic New Century in Manchester, for our second year, due to the popularity of the 2025 event. Everyone had such a fantastic time, with plenty of space to meet, network and celebrate.It promises to be the best and biggest celebration yet and will be presented, as last year, by Kate Goodman, owner of Reserve Wines in Manchester.

It will follow our usual informal style, so no set tables or black ties (unless you wish to of course). Instead, expect plenty of time and space to chat with everyone in the room, including buyers, journalists, importers, judges and all those involved in the awards.

Delicious Asian bowl food will be served alongside a welcome drink, fizz to toast the winners, kindly supplied by Beyond Wines and all the finalist wines on taste throughout the night.

We are so chuffed to welcome back our regular PCDA band, headed up by Damian Best from Dedbest Distillery.

Last year, the band’s fantastic live set kept everyone on the dance floor and we even had a couple of impromptu and very impressive karaoke sessions too!

Where can people buy tickets?

Tickets are priced at just £75. The link to buy tickets is here.

We would encourage people to book as early as possible.

Anything special to expect at the ceremony?

We will be announcing two special awards on the night for On-Trade Wine Supplier of the Year, sponsored by Beyond Wines and a new Off-Trade Supplier of the year category, sponsored by Crate Communications.

These Awards recognise the product range, service and diversity of portfolios that the two companies provide.

Are you still only awarding one Gold, one Silver and a Bronze in each category?

Yes, we’ve resisted the temptation to hand out lots of medals, as we feel they become worthless as a result.

We do award a small number of Gold Commendations, in the case of close scoring or for a significant reason (maybe due to judges’ comments). Overall, that means that every medal is significant and hard fought – infact it’s an achievement in itself to be a finalist – something that can’t be said for all drinks competitions.

Good luck to those shortlisted and we look forward to celebrating with you at the ceremony in Manchester.

You can find out more about the People's Choice Drinks Awards here.
The Buyer is media partner to both the People’s Choice Wine and Spirits awards.