For the past three years, the London Wine Competition has been assessed and judged by a leading panel of top-level wine buyers with current direct commercial buying responsibility, along with wine consultants and experts who are also directly involved in the development of new wine brands or buying wine for commercial resale.

The London Wine Competition looks to recognise, reward and help promote wine brands that have successfully been created to identify with and target a specific wine drinker. For any wine brand to earn its place on a retailer’s shelf or a restaurant’s wine list -  and then vitally stay there - they need to be marketable and consumer driven and not just produced in the general hope it can find enough people willing to sell and buy it.

That is why the London Wine Competition is different. It will single out and shine the spotlight on those wine brands that consumers really want to buy and have a clear market value for trade buyers.

The 3rd edition of the London Wine Competition follows the same pattern and boasts a panel of judges that range from master sommeliers, sommeliers, MW’s, wine buyers, and other trade professionals and industry experts.

The list of judges are carefully drawn from leading retail chains, wholesalers, distributors and on-trade groups across a variety of channels and disciplines including multiple retailing, convenience stores, cash and carries, specialist retailers, casual and fine dining, hospitality and the travel industry.

Over the years, the London Wine Competition has seen a plethora of judges, where some of the judges have been with the competition from the beginning - tasting the wines and assessing them based on quality, value, and packaging.

Just like every year, the 2020 London Wine Competition has a lineup of the top industry leaders and high profile frames in the industry. So, if you’ve entered your brands in the London Wine Competition, then your wines are going to be tasted by those who have a large hand in the buying of wines.

Meet the judges

The 2020 London Wine Competition has a panel of 43 judges, from which the competition has added 18 new judges, and the other 25 are joining LWC yet again

The new judges added this year include:

1. Julie Albin -Business Development Manager – Education Programming, Americas, Wine & Spirit Education Trust

2. Joe Aylmer - Wine Buyer, Majestic Wine

3. Alistair Cooper MW - Master of Wine

4. Giuseppe D'Aniello - Deputy Head Sommelier, EDITION

5. Richard Dennis - Marketing Director, Benchmark Drinks

6. Yves Desmaris MS - Wine Buyer , Pied à Terre Restaurant

7. Rob Dixon - Head of Retail - UK & Ireland, Mirabeau Wine

8. Will Hill - Wine buyer , Albion Wine Shippers

9. Eleonora Imbriani - Former Head Sommelier, Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden

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10. Andre Luis T Martins - Head Sommelier & Wine Buyer ,The Cavalry and Guards Club

11. Heidi Mäkinen MW - Wine Ambassador, Viinitie Oy

12. Svetoslav Manolev MS - Head Sommelier, Flemings Mayfair Hotel

13. Élise Mérigaud - Head Sommelier, D&D London

14. Peter Mitchell MW - Wine Director , Jeroboams Group

15. Sara Muirhead MW - Master of Wine

16. Ana Roskoska - Sommelier, Silversea Cruises

17. Youri Sabatini - Sommelier , The Ritz London

18. Annette Scarfe MW - Master of Wine

And other judges who will be joining LWC once again include:

1. Robin Kick MW - Master of Wine

2. Abdelilah Ait El Caid - Sommelier, COYA

3. Angelo Altobelli - Head Sommelier, Belmond Cadogan Hotel

4. Vincenzo Arnese - Assistant Head Sommelier & Wine Buyer, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

5. Barbara Drew MW - Events Manager, Berry Bros & Rudd

6. Simon Field MW - Freelance Writer and Consultant

7. David Forer MW - Master of Wine

8. Ben Franks - CEO and Co-founder, Novel Wines

9. Matteo Furlan - Head Sommelier, The Ritz London

10. Philip Harden MW - Master of Wine

11. Sorcha Holloway - Founder of UKWinehour

12. Stamatis Iseris - Head Sommelier & Wine Buyer, La Trompette

13. Anne Jones - Category Manager, Waitrose

14. Matteo Montone - Wine Director, EDITION

15. Roberta Neave - Category Buyer , Star Pubs & Bars

16. Antonio Palmarini - Head Sommelier, SUSHISAMBA

17. Stefano Pasqual - Head sommelier, Gordon Ramsay Group, London, UK

18. Loris Propedo - Wine Buyer, Mondial Wine Ltd

19. Michael Raebel - Head Sommelier, Rosewood Hotel London

20. Kathrine Larsen Robert MS - Premium Wine Ambassador, Enotria Winecellars Ltd

21. Annette Scarfe MW - Master of Wine

22. Erik Simonics - Head Sommelier, Caprice Holdings Ltd

23. Tim Triptree MW - International Director-Specialist, Christie's Wine Department

24. Adriana Valentini - Head of Beverage, Oxford and Cambridge Club

25. Demetri Walters MW - Wine Educator, Berry Bros. & Rudd

The Judging Criteria

To win a London Wine Competition award you will need to score highly in all three areas of our judging criteria. You might have an outstanding quality wine, but if the price and packaging is not right, you will not be recognized by the London Wine Competition.

There is no point, for example, in having a 95 point wine if it does not look good or offer consumers great value for money. Those points mean it will remain highly respected within the trade, but it will also remain largely unsold on the shelf or languishing on a restaurant’s wine list.

That is why the London Wine Competition will be decided based on the following judging formula:

Q (Quality Score) + Value Score (V) + Package Score (P) = London Wine Competition Score.

Know Entire Procedure  |  Scoring System  |  Awards