London, September 2018 – The London Wine Competition is being launched to identify and reward those brands and products that consumers actually want to buy, rather than simply recognise good quality wines for their winemaking ability alone.
To be a real success a wine has to be bought by consumers, be it from a supermarket shelf or a restaurant wine list. The London Wine Competition will single out and highlight the wine brands on sale in the UK that are truly commercially successful.
All winners in the London Wine Competition will have been judged in three key areas:
- All wines will be initially tasted blind to assess their quality and how drinkable they are they for consumers in their target area. The London Wine Competition wants to highlight and reward wines that are enjoyable to drink, not just high point scorers where one glass in enough.
- Value for money. Wines will then be assessed to see how much value for money they are offering their target wine drinkers at that price point.
- Packaging and design. As the majority of wine is bought with our eyes, the London Wine Competition will recognise wines that stand out on shelf, or on a back bar, and will assess how well suited that design or packaging is to their target consumer group.
The London Wine Competition has been introduced to give consumers a clear guide to the wines that are best suited to their tastes and give them maximum value for money.
The majority of other national UK wine competitions only judge a wine blind and take in to no consideration how much it might cost, or even have an idea of what it looks like.
With so many products now on the market it is increasingly confusing and difficult for all wine drinkers, both enthusiasts and the occasional drinkers, to really know, with any great confidence, what they are buying.
The London Wine Competition has been created to put consumers back in charge. To give them the re-assurance that any of the award winning wines with the LWC logo will have been based on how drinkable they are, how much value for money they offer, and what they actually look like.
Each of the London Wine Competition winners will receive either a Gold, Silver or Bronze award with separate weighted marks awarded by the judges for the wine’s quality and drinkability, value for money, and packaging and design.
Sid Patel, organiser of the London Wine Competition, said: “We all need help when buying wine. There is simply so much choice out there. But at the end of the day we want to invest our money in wines that we actually want to drink, be it with our partner or our friends. We want to highlight and reward those wines that have the winning combination of drinkability, value for money and that look great too.”
To help identify those wines, the London Wine Competition will work with a panel of commercially focused buyers currently working in either developing new wines for the market, or directly involved in buying wine from all channels of the industry.
“Our judges will be making decisions every day about the commercial viability of the wines presented to them,” added Patel.
“We want them to regard the London Wine Competition as an extension to the great work they are already doing in their respective businesses. Together we can help create a selection of the most robust and commercially viable wines available in the UK.”
Judging for the London Wine Competition takes place in March 2018 with the winners announced shortly after. Entries for the competition will open on November 1, 2017.
The London Wine Competition has been created exclusively by the Beverage Trade Network, the US drinks events, services, business and publishing group, dedicated to help drinks producers and brand owners get closer to the buyers, distributors and retailers that can bring their products to market. It is part of a new wider London drinks awards initiative that also includes The London Spirits Competition.
