Helen McGinn promoted to co-chair of IWC

By Lisa Riley

Published: 23 October, 2019

Helen McGinn, author of the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club and drinks writer for the Daily Mail, has been promoted to co-chair of the International Wine Challenge (IWC).

The seventh co-chair to be chosen for the position, McGinn joins a select group composed of Sarah Abbott MW, Tim Atkin MW, Oz Clarke, Dr Jamie Goode, Peter McCombie MW and Charles Metcalfe.

Before her promotion, McGinn worked for almost 10 years as a wine buyer for Tesco and has been a judge at the IWC for more than 20 years.

McGinn said: “As an ex-buyer, I understand why many consumers feel overwhelmed when faced with a wall of wine, either in a shop, on a wine list or online. The Challenge helps them to navigate that wall with medals acting as a third-party signpost to high quality wines."

She will join the co-chair team in mid-November when the 2020 International Wine Challenge has its first week of judging in London.

Congratulating McGinn on her promotion, IWC director Chris Ashton,said: “Helen has been judging at the IWC for more than 20 years, and has been one of our top panel chairs for years. Our annual review of all our judges’ performance, in a rigorous statistical analysis, has shown she thoroughly deserves this promotion, and her tremendous palate and great experience will deepen the expertise of the IWC co-chair team.”

In its 38th year, the IWC assesses every wine ‘blind’ and judges each for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage, with each medal-winning wine tasted on at least three separate occasions by a minimum of 12 different judges including MWs.

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