IWC 2021 award winners revealed

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 30 June, 2021

The International Wine Challenge (IWC) has revealed the winners of its much anticipated annual awards at its first in-person gala dinner this evening since the beginning of the pandemic.

The awards, which include the IWC UK Merchant Awards, IWC Great Value Champions, IWC Champion Wines and IWC Winemakers of the Year, among others, were announced at The Oval cricket ground this evening following on from what has been a challenging year across the board for the industry.

The big winners in 2021 include The Wine Society, which picked up a total of six gongs including Dynamic Merchant and Wine Club of the Year, while Liberty Wines picked up four.

The Wine Society was also named IWC Merchant of the Year, the “pinnacle within UK wine retail” organisers said.

“They didn’t miss a trick,” judges said after noting how The Wine Society looked after its members and suppliers – ordering more wine than ever before – during the strangest of times.

Liberty was named IWC Large Agent of the Year, a category sponsored by Harpers Wine & Spirit. The judges were impressed with the business’s “great attention to detail and great numbers”.

The awards also highlighted the “best of the best” wines taken from a teaser of the IWC’s awards last month.

Known as the IWC Champions, these wines were selected following a re-tasting of all trophy-winning wines chosen by the IWC co-chairs, with top honours going to Domaine Sigalas Santorini Barrel 2020 and Piper-Heidsieck Vintage 2008 among others.

The IWC Winemakers of the Year meanwhile, saw Wolf Blass’s Chris Hatcher and Steven Frost take home the Red Winemaker of the Year award, while Christophe Briotet of Burgundy’s Edouard Delaunay picked up the White Winemaker of the Year award this year after winning the red equivalent in 2020.

The full results as they appear on the link below are also included in Harpers’ July issue, available in print and digital now.

IWC_Results_2021.pdf

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