IWSC Showcases Trophy Triumphs and Winning Wines

EMBARGOED until September 30, 2008

September 29, 2008 - Press Dispensary - The International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) (http://www.iwsc.net) will today uncork an array of winning wines at its annual showcase tasting in London. The event also marks the announcement of the IWSC’s 2008 results on Southern hemisphere wine entries and the first of the year’s wine trophies.

The IWSC is the only wine competition in the UK working with producers on an extended judging schedule to allow those in the Southern hemisphere to submit their samples after the current year’s harvest, in order to show their latest releases. The approach has been well received by winemakers, and has resulted in wines from 2008 taking awards and being included in today’s tasting.

Allen Gibbons, executive director of the IWSC says: “Our objective is to identify the best wines and spirits and to promote them to the trade and press. This schedule allows for all the products to be assessed at their finest, and our temperature controlled cellars and tasting rooms ensure optimum conditions throughout the six month judging period.

He continues: “Less than 2% of our wine entries attained gold as we are particularly thorough in our judging, which is carried out using pre-poured blind flights by style. Our judges include 40 masters of wine, 30 winemakers and key industry players such as master blender Richard Paterson. Whether the triumphant lines are famous brands or new discoveries, we are confident that the decisions reached by our panels are borne of both expertise and impartiality.”

Australia once again took pole position with the highest number of gold awards (34) for wines across the competition, also at 3.3% they scored the highest percentage of gold awards against their number of wines entered. The stringent judging meant only 107 gold or gold (Best in Class) medals were awarded across all wine entries worldwide. South Africa and France came in joint second with 19 gold medals each, representing 3.2% and 2% of their entries respectively. New Zealand was the next highest scorer with 11 gold awards. Spirit awards were announced earlier in the year, along with the results of Northern hemisphere wine entries. All of this year’s trophy presentations and final announcements take place at the annual awards ceremony and banquet in November, at Guildhall in London.

IWSC competition director, Frances Horder, adds:“The achievers in this year’s competition were often little known producers such as Moppity Vineyards from the Hilltops region in Australia which entered only one wine; a shiraz that took gold (Best in Class) and which was also short-listed for the Shiraz trophy, which ultimately went to Trentham Estate, from Victoria. Other discoveries were the wines of Casa Madero in Mexico, which took an astonishing six of the nine medals awarded to Mexican entries. I say ‘discovery’ but at over 400 years old, I guess Casa Madero winery has been around long enough to know how to make a good wine. Clearly not all new world wines are new!”

Amongst the 23 trophies being announced today, 15 were open to wines from anywhere in the world. Of these, South Africa picked up five, including The Mission Hill Trophy for best Chardonnay which went to family owned Delheim Wines for its Chardonnay Sur Lie 2007. New Zealand and Australia both picked up three of these worldwide trophies, with the inaugural presentation of The Jancis Robinson Riesling Trophy going to Peter Lehmann Wines, of the Barossa, for its Reserve Riesling 2002. In the tough contest to find the best dessert wine from around the world, the Colaruotolo family of Casa Larga Vineyards in New York State triumphed with its exotically packaged Fiori Vidal Ice Wine 2005. All three trophies for champagne or champagne style wines were produced by P & C Heidsieck, including two own-label lines by Waitrose which won both the vintage and non-vintage champagne trophies for the Waitrose Vintage Champagne 2002 and Waitrose Blanc de Noirs NV.

Full details on today’s winners can be found in the IWSC results CD Rom, available at the showcase tasting or by visiting http://www.iwsc.net

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IWSC 2008 trophies announced today:

The IWSC Trophy for Dessert Wine Trophy: Casa Larga Fiori Vidal Ice Wine 2005 (Casa Larga Vineyards)

The IWSC Trophy for Italian Varietal: Vigneti Villabella Fracastoro Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2001 (Vigneti Villabella)

IWSC Trophy for Madeira: Blandy's Bual 1977 Vintage (Madeira Wine Company)

The Spier Trophy for Merlot: Hartenberg Merlot 2005 (Hartenberg)

The O'Enologique de Champagne Trophy for Non-Vintage Champagne: Waitrose Blanc de Noirs NV (P&C Heidsieck)

The Bouchard Finlayson Trophy for Pinot Noir: Remarkable Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2006 (Remarkable Wines Ltd)

The KWV Trophy for Pinotage: Tesco Finest Beyers Truter Pinotage 2006 (Beyerskloof)

The IWSC Trophy for Port: Quinta do Vesuvio 1994 (Symington Family Estates)

The Jancis Robinson Trophy for Riesling: Peter Lehmann Reserve Riesling 2002 (Peter Lehmann Wines)

The IWSC Trophy for Sauvignon Blanc: Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Simon Waghorn)

The IWSC Trophy for Sherry: Harveys Palo Cortado Very Old Rare Sherry (Beam Global UK)

The IWSC Trophy for Shiraz / Syrah: Trentham Estate Heathcote Shiraz 2005 (Trentham Estate)

The London International Wine Fair Trophy for Single Estate Red Wine:
Vigneti Villabella Fracastoro Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2001 (Vigneti Villabella

)

The London International Wine Fair Trophy for Single Estate White Wine: Spy Valley Riesling 2007 (Spy Valley Wines)

The IWSC Trophy for Special Edition Champagne: Charles Heidsieck Champagne Charlie 1981 (P&C Heidsieck)

The IWSC Trophy for Vintage Champagne: Waitrose Vintage Champagne 2002 (P&C Heidsieck)

The Frescobaldi Trophy for Vintage Red Wine (over 5 years): Beronia Reserva 2001 (Bodegas Beronia)

About The International Wine and Spirit Competition
The International Wine and Spirit Competition was founded in 1969 and is the premier competition of its kind in the world. Its aim is to promote the quality and excellence of the world's best wines, spirits and liqueurs.

All entries of wines, spirits and liqueurs are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary. Awards are made on a points system and sponsored trophies are presented in selected categories. Technical analysis is carried out on Gold, Gold (Best in Class), Silver (Best in Class) award winning wines, spirits and liqueurs to ensure that all products are technically sound and will be of the same high quality when they reach the consumer as they were when the judging panels originally tasted them.

The Competition is supported by a group of Vice Presidents made up of some of the most influential men and women in the trade, including Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Miguel Torres, Marchese Piero Antinori, Robert Drouhin, Robert Mondavi, May de Lencquesaing, Gina Gallo and this years President; Rafael Guilisasti, Vice Chairman of Concha y Toro.

For further information, please contact:
Yvonne May, partner, Lindsay May PR
Tel: 0207 470 8890 Email:
Site: www.iwsc.net

Media enquiries:
David Lindsay, Lindsay May PR
Tel: ++ 44 (0) 207 470 8890
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7711 531646
Email:

Trade enquiries:
Grant Collier, deputy competition director, International Wine & Spirit Competition
Tel: + 44 (0) 1483 542707
Email: