Why brands should enter London Wine, Beer & Spirits Competitions

The final countdown has started for entries into the 2023 London Wine, London Beer and London Spirits Competitions. Three separate events with a common goal. To identify, reward and then promote the wines, beers and spirits that consumers are most likely want to go out and buy. An awards programme that judges products on what they taste like, their quality, their value for money and what they look like. The winning combination for any successful drinks product.

Story and article written by Richard Siddle on The buyer.

Here’s how to enter the 2023 competitions and who the drinks professionals are that are going to judge them.

The final deadline for entries into the London Competitions is the end of February 22.

For all the details about the individual awards click on the links here and find out why to enter and who is judging the awards below.

• To enter the London Wine Competition click here.
• To enter the London Spirits Competition click here.
• To enter the the London Beer Competition click here.

As the entry process for the 2023 awards closes on February 22 here are the key reasons why it makes good business sense to enter your beers, wines and spirits into the three separate London Competitions.

The London Wine, Beer, and Spirits Competitions were set up six years with one objective. To introduce drinks awards that recognise, highlight and reward wines, beers and spirits based on the three key criteria a consumer decides which product they are going to buy. 

Every drinks brand and product entered into the London Wine, London Beer and London Spirits Competitions is judged in these three ways: 

Blind Tasting

Each product entered is first blind tasted by our professional team of judges made of leading wine buyers, importers, merchants, sommeliers and Masters of Wine. Only those wines, beers and spirits that pass the blind tasting are then put forward to the next two rounds of judging..

Pricing and value for money 

The judges are then told the recommended retail price and cost price of the wine, beer or spirit in question and asked to assess how that equates to the quality they have just tasted. Does it offer value for money at that price point? Will a retailer, wine merchant, bar or restaurant be able to sell it at that price to their customers?

Design 

The judges are then asked to look at the actual bottles and packaging of all the products entered, to pick them up, to analyse their front and back labels and their overall brand design. Do they live up to the taste and quality credentials? Does it match the price being asked for it? Would the judges be proud to have that on their retail shelf or back bar?

Scoring

Scores are awarded per product in each of these three key criteria in order to determine which medal they will receive. 

To win a medal in each of the competitions a product needs to get the following scores: 

Gold: 90 points or over.

Silver: a score between 76-89.

Bronze: a score between 65-75.  

Promotion 

All products that receive medals in either the London, Wine, Beer or Spirits Competitions will then be promoted through the various business and trade websites, social media and YouTube channels that the shows organiser, Beverage Trade Network, runs around the world. This includes the London Drinks Guide and two new dedicated sites for the UK – The On-Trade and Drinks Merchants. 

The Judges

Any drinks competition is only as good as the judges and the judging process behind them. 

Which is why since it was launched six years ago the London Competitions have worked hard year by year to build up a network of professional judges that each have direct drinks buying responsibilities and are responsible for deciding what product are listed by the businesses they work for. 

Drinks trade professionals that know what it takes for a wine, beer or spirit to make it on a list and then stay there. Judging panels made up of top sommeliers, bartenders, leading wine buyers, merchants, importers, suppliers and Masters of Wine. 

The 2023 London Wine Competition is to to judged by 

Joseph Arthur: Senior Wine Buyer at Marks & Spencer

Angelo Altobelli: Beverage Manager at Dinings SW3

Federico Antonio Moccia: Head Sommelier at 67 Pall Mall

Daniele Arcangeli: Certified Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe

Vincenzo Arnese: Head Sommelier at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

Dario Barbeto: Head of Wine Department and Training at Individual Restaurants

Wayne Baxendale: Head Sommelier and Wine Hospitalian

Jonny Tyson Beecher: Assistant Head Sommelier at La Trompette

Lorenzo Beltrame: Head Sommelier for Santo Mare Restaurant

Beatrice Bessi: Head Sommelier at Chiltern Firehouse

Claire Blackler MW: Owner of Claire Drinks and Master of Wine, Wine & Spirits Educator and Consultant

Beverley Blanning MW: Educator & Presenter

Alessandro Bonazzi: Wine & Spirits Buyer at Whole Foods Market HSK

Beans Boughton MW: Master of Wine and Buyer at Alliance Wine

Filippo Carnevale: Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer at Amethyst Dining, London

Biagio Castaldo: Restaurant Head Sommelier at Maison Estelle

Salvatore Castano: On Trade Advisor & Assistant Wine Buyer at Friarwood Fine Wine and Best Sommelier of Europe & Africa ASI 2021

Michele Cortese: Sales Account Manager at Berkmann Wine Cellars

Giuseppe D’Aniello: Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer at The London EDITION

Christopher Delalonde MS: Head of Wines at Hakkasan Group

Richard Dennis: Commercial Director, Watermill Wines Ltd.

Yves Desmaris MS: Master Sommelier and Head Sommelier at Royal Automobile Club

Eugenio Egorov: Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer at The Stafford London

Michele Fazari: Head Sommelier at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Ramiro Fernandez: Head Sommelier and Wine buyer at Midsummer House Restaurant

Miguel Angel Gomez Cabrera: Head Sommelier at The Clove Club

Will Hill: Wine Buyer and Merchandiser at Honest Grapes

Georgios Iordanidis: Head of Wine at Annabel’s, The Birley Clubs

Martin Kleveta: Assistant Head Sommelier at HIDE

Marco Laccarino: Head of Wine At Berkeley at Maybourne Hotel Group

Matthieu Longuere MS: Wine Development Manager at Le Cordon Bleu

William Lowe MW: Co-founder & Master Distiller at The Cambridge Distillery

Andre Luis T Martins: Head Sommelier & Wine Buyer

Svetoslav Manolev MS: Fine Wine Manager at Berkmann Wine Cellars

Peter Mitchell MW: Wine Director at Jeroboams Group

Matteo Montone MS: World best young sommelier 2019 Chaine de Rôtisseurs, Wine Director at Edition, London

Sara Muirhead MW: Wine Consultant

Roberta Neave: Category Buying Manager at Wine and Soft Drinks at Star Pubs & Bars

Joanna Nerantzi: Head Sommelier at Canaves Oia Resorts Santorini

Antonio Palmarini: Sommelier at Beaverbrook Townhouse, London

Daniele Palomba: Head Sommelier at Annabel’s

Stefano Pasqual: Head Sommelier at Gordon Ramsay Group

Richard Perugi: Key Account Manager at Raventós Codorníu

Emanuel Pesqueira: Head Sommelier at Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay

Adam Porter MW

Loris Propedo: Wine Buyer at Mondial Wine Ltd

Michael Raebel: Owner and Sommelier at Villa Münchbach Lüneburger Heide

Adam Ramic: Head Sommelier & Wine buyer at The Lanesborough

Kathrine Larsen Robert MS: Premium Wine Ambassador at Enotria Winecellars Ltd

Stefano Rossomando: Business Development Manager at Oeno Group

David Round MW: Head of Wine at Pix, Director at Big Fish Little Fish

Mattia Scarpazza: Wine Podcaster & PR and Advertising Strategist at Looking into Wine and Head Sommelier at Petersham Nurseries

Elena Serban: Head Sommelier and Buyer at ZUMA Restaurants

Chiara Sieni: Assistant Manager at Rise & Vine

Julio Sierra: Head Sommelier at D&D London

Savvas Symeonidis: Head Sommelier of Oblix at the Shard

Lorenzo Tonelli: Maison Estelle Club Deputy Head Sommelier at Maison Estelle and Estelle Manor

Valeriya Toteva: Assistant Head Sommelier at Hilton Hotels & Resorts

Adriana Valentini: Head of Beverage at Oxford and Cambridge Club

Demetri Walters MW: Wine Consultant, Educator & Presenter

Eric Zwiebel MS: Executive Head Sommelier at Summer Lodge hotel and Red Carnation Group. 

How to enter 

Final call for all international and domestic brands is here. The entry process for the London Wine, Beer and Spirits Competitions ends on February 22. Here’s how to enter: 

• To enter the London Wine Competition click here.
• To enter the London Spirits Competition click here.
• To enter the the London Beer Competition click here.

Source story and article written by Richard Siddle on The buyer.