The Venue: St Mary's London

The morning set up of boxes as per flights is being done for London Wine Competition day 1.

Mauricio Perez, CTO of Beverage Trade Network and London Wine Competition arranges his green room (a do not disturb zone) where he ensures the backend technology is running smoothly. LWC has moved its judging to 100% online.

Each box is marked with a flight number and a tasting order number and boxes are arranged in that flow for each team/panel.

A behind the scene interview room is being set up where Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network and London Wine Competition shares a conversation with some of the judges.

The breakfast room is being prepped for judges. Judges come at 9 am and have their tea and breakfast. The LWC team then takes the judges to the main judging floor at 10 am to kick off the judging.

Breakfast underway

Each judge also gets a cap and a t-shirt that shows the year they judged.

Winners of the competition are shown by some of the judges and a commentary on what they liked is recorded live during the judging. This is a great benefit to the entrant for the best-in-show winners.

The stage is set. Includes a presentation stage and screen where a special guest gives a keynote.

Each table has 3 judges, 10 wine glasses, one folder that includes an explanation of the judging process, a pen, a pin, a name tent, crackers, water jug.

Clean up and prep done after the judging is done for the following day to keep it ready.

The judge's picture is taken before the judging starts. In the picture are judges of Day 2 from the 2022 LWC judging.

Senior staff at LWC on the floor.

Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network is meeting with the logistics and warehouse team on brainstorming ways to improve sample receiving, sample accuracy, and data accuracy.

Whites being chilled and prepped before taking to the judges

More about London Wine Competition

The London Wine Competition prides itself on thinking and acting like the consumers that are going to end up buying the wines that win the top awards in the event. It is why from the day it was founded it has constantly been looking to listen and adapt its adage giving producers, suppliers, and importers clear and compelling reasons to enter their wines.

To do that you need to have top-quality judges that not only know a quality wine when they taste one but can also recognise their value for money for the part of the market they want to compete in and whether they look and have the right decision and packaging to appeal to wine drinkers.

That’s why the London Wine Competition looks to only have judges, many of whom are Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers, with direct buying responsibility or those who have had the vital experience of making the tough commercial decisions that decide what is listed or not.

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The judging process:

The London Wine Competition has three, highly effective and different judging criteria to set them apart from the majority of other international wine events. Wines are judged in three ways:

For their quality

for their value for money

and for what they look like.

These are the three most crucial factors that determine what wines end up in someone’s supermarket trolley or at their table when eating and drinking out. 

A separate weighted score will be given for each of the three parts of the judging process (Quality gets twice the weightage). The scores will be calculated with other judges for the same product on the team to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded. 

The judging process makes the London Wine Competition very relevant to how consumers to shop and how to trade buyers buy wine for their business. Hope this article has taken you behind the scenes at one of the leading wine competitions in the world.

It's time to enter your wines, beers, and spirits now and get in front of the best in class. Brands are reviewed by Quality, Value, and Package. Brands are encouraged to enter before December 9, 2022, to save. Entry information here:

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