International Wine Challenge reveals the four top award-winning UK wine regions
as supermarket own-label wines take top medals
The International Wine Challenge, the world's most influential, impartial and rigorously judged
global wine competition, has announced the results of its 2023 competition. Thousands of winesfrom over 50 countries were entered into the competition and blind tasted by an international panelof experts last month, with awards going to over 6,000 wines from across the world.
The results of this year’s challenge prove that the UK is spoilt for choice when it comes to awardwinning wine. It was a sensational year for homegrown wines, with four regions in particularasserting their dominance. Meanwhile, UK supermarkets also made their mark, racking up hundredsof medals and demonstrating that top quality wine doesn’t need to come at top prices.

Four regions sparkle as they display their excellence
In this year’s challenge, England’s sparkling wines triumphed once again, coming second only toFrance for gold medals while the nation also continued to burnish its reputation as a producer ofworld-class still wines, winning a total of 24 medals for still styles. Medals were won by producers in19 regions across England and Wales including as far north as Staffordshire and Shropshire but morethan 65% of the medals were split between just four exceptional wine-producing regions…
Kent led the medal wins for English wines with 27 medals, including two Golds which were bothawarded to Chapel Down. In addition to Golds for its Kit's Coty Coeur De Cuvée 2016 and its Grand
Reserve 2018, the Kent producer secured a further six Silver or Bronze medals. Other notablesuccesses came for Gusbourne which was awarded a total of seven medals and Balfour Winery
which took home six.
Sussex also demonstrated its sparkling wine prowess, with a total of 23 medals, three of which wereGold. One of these Golds went to Rathfinny Wine Estate for its Blanc de Blancs 2018, while it also
took home a further three medals, making it the most awarded winery in Sussex. Busi Jacobsohn
Wine Estate was also awarded a Gold for its Blanc de Noirs 2018 while Wiston Estate claimed thethird Gold medal for its Blanc de Blancs 2018.
Hampshire’s wines triumphed in this year’s challenge, with more Gold medals than any other English
region as well as the top trophy for English sparkling wine. Hattingley Valley’s Blanc de Blancs 2014
was awarded both the English Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Trophy as well as the prestigious English
Sparkling Trophy. Gold medals also want to Hampshire producers, The Grange, Raimes andCandover Valley Wines whose Candover Brook Brut took home the English Classic Blend Sparkling
Trophy.
Cornwall bagged a total of twelve medals, all of which were shared between just two producers.
Camel Valley produced an exceptional set of results, taking home a Gold medal for its Annie's
Anniversary Brut 2018 in addition to four Silver medals, five Bronze and one Commended. Camel
Valley was recognised not only for its still and sparkling whites and rosés but also for its Sparkling
Red 2021 which was one of the highest performing sparkling reds in the challenge. Trevibban Millwas the only other Cornish producer to gain a coveted medal.

Elsewhere in the UK, the English White Trophy was awarded to Lyme Bay Winery for its Martin's
Lane Chardonnay 2020 while Devon’s Lympstone Manor Estate took home the English Red Trophy
for its Triassic Pinot Noir 2020.
Helen McGinn, one of the six Co-Chairs of the International Wine Challenge commented, “England,particularly regions in the south, has been internationally recognised for the production of worldclass sparkling wines for some time now. In recent years, England’s still wines have also come onleaps and bounds and it is great to see both reds and whites recognised with trophies in this year’schallenge.”
Top four English regions ranked by total medalsRegionKentSussex
Hampshire
CornwallGold

Silver2341Bronze
101044151077

Commended554

Total medals
27231512British supermarkets reveal the quality in their wine aisles
In this year’s challenge, 287 medals were awarded to UK supermarkets, with 210 of these going toown-label wines. There was a draw at the top of the table with Asda and Tesco each receiving 63
medals for their own-label ranges. Tesco and Aldi both took home two Golds for their own-label
offerings while Marks and Spencer, Co-op and Morrisons each received one.
Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons were all recognised for their fortified wines. The four ports to take home
Golds were Tesco Finest Vintage Port 2013, Morrisons The Best LBV Port 2017, Aldi’s 10yr Old
Tawny Port and Fletcher's 40 Year Old Tawny Port, also from Aldi. Tesco also received a Gold for its
Tesco Finest Pedro Ximenez. Marks and Spencer was the only supermarket to win a Gold medal foran own-label still wine which was awarded to its M&S Collection Susana Balbo Malbec 2022 while
Co-op was the only supermarket to take this accolade for a sparkling wine with its Co-op Les
Pionniers Vintage Champagne 2013. All seven of these wines are available on supermarket shelves
for under £30.
IWC Co-Chair Oz Clarke, commented, “With almost 300 medals awarded to supermarket wines,
there really is an abundance of choice for those after high-quality wine at affordable prices. AnInternational Wine Challenge medal gives consumers the confidence to pick up a bargain, knowingthat it has been given the seal of approval by a panel of skilled expert palates.”
Supermarket Superstars: Own-Label Gold Medal Winners

M&S Collection SusanaBalbo Malbec 2022,£12.00 Marks andSpencer

Co-op Les Pionniers
Vintage Champagne2013£29.00 Co-op

Tesco Finest Pedro
Ximenez£6.50 Tesco

Morrisons The Best LBVPort 2017£11.50 Morrisons

Tesco Finest Vintage
Port 2013£20.00 Tesco

Fletcher's 40 Year Old
Tawny Port
£29.99, Aldi

10yr Old Tawny
Port£8.99, Aldi

Own-label supermarket medals
Supermarket own label
Aldi
Asda
Co-op
Marks and Spencer
Morrisons
Tesco
Waitrose

GoldSilver
2011
1
20Bronze
42339419151540
76542
11

Commended Total medals
18215563
411416
4104263626

Outstanding wines at affordable prices
The IWC also announced the winners of its IWC Great Value Awards, which saw three Waitrose ownlabel wines receiving Great Value Awards, closely followed by Tesco with two.
IWC Great Value Award winners 2023
IWC Great Value AwardWinners 2023
IWC Great Value White under£8Wine Name
Extra Special Rueda 2022

Price
£6.00

StockistAsda

IWC Great Value White
between £8 and £12
IWC Great Value White Under£15

Waitrose Foundation CheninBlanc 2022
Esk Valley MarlboroughSauvignon Blanc 2022

£11.99Waitrose£14.85www.northandsouthwines.co.uk,
www.winedirect.co.uk, ND John,Bon Coeur Fine Wines,
Woodwinters Wines & Whiskies,
The Oxford Wine Company,
Cambridge Wine Merchants,
Stone Vine and Sun, House ofTownend

IWC Great Value Rosé £8 andunder
IWC Great Value Rosébetween £8 and £12
IWC Great Value Rosébetween £8 and £12
IWC Great Value Red £8 and
under
IWC Great Value Red between£8 and £12
IWC Great Value Red Under£15
IWC Great Value Sparklingunder £12
IWC Great Value Sparkling
between £12 and £20
IWC Great Value Sparklingunder £25
IWC Great Value Sweet under£8IWC Great Value Sweet Under£15
IWC Great Value Fortified
under £8
IWC Great Value Fortified
between £8 and £12
IWC Great Value Fortified
Under £15

Fleur de Lise 2022

£8.00

Marks and Spencer

Waitrose Loved and Found
Sciaccarellu Rosé 2021
Arbousset Tavel 2022

£8.99

Waitrose£12.00

Tesco

Trivento Reserve Shiraz 2022

£8.00

Tesco

M&S Collection Susana Balbo
Malbec 2022
Rabbit & Spaghetti Clare Valley
Shiraz 2021
Cremant de Bordeaux Brut

£12.00Marks and Spencer£14.99Naked Wines£10.00Marks and Spencer

Crémant de Bourgogne Brut

£13.00AsdaGran Reserva Josep Valls Extra
Brut 2019
Tesco Finest Dessert Semillon
2018
The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc
2022
Tesco Finest Pedro Ximenez£21.30£6.25

www.vinissimus.co.uk,www.vinvm.co.uk
Tesco£14.99Majestic, Ocado

£6.50

Tesco

Waitrose & Partners Nº1 Palo
Cortado Torre del Oro
Blandy's 5 Year Old Reserva£11.99Waitrose£14.99Waitrose, Cambridge Wine
Merchants

The full list of 2023 International Wine Challenge award winners released on 18th May can be seen
here. The IWC Champion Wines for 2023 which are selected following a re-tasting by the IWC CoChairs of all the trophy-winning wines, will be revealed at the IWC 2023 Awards announcement onTuesday 4th July.
ENDS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTES TO EDITORS:The International Wine ChallengeIn its 39th year, the International Wine Challenge is widely acknowledged as the world’s most rigorous,
impartial, influential and global wine competition. The International Wine Challenge assesses every
wine ‘blind’ and judges each for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage. Awards include medals(Gold, Silver, Bronze) and Commended awards. Trophies are awarded to the very best wines in eachcategory. The International Wine Challenge is committed to helping consumers discover great wine,
and the medals displayed on winning bottles offer a trusted guarantee of quality.
For more information on the IWC, please contact the IWC team at Phipps
iwc@thisisphipps.com : +44 (0) 20 3968 2455
International Wine Challenge Results 2023: Top 10 Countries ranked by Gold medal wins
Country
FranceAustralia
PortugalSpain
New ZealandArgentina
South Africa
Austria
Italy
Great Britain

Gold70
62
49
40
38
1915
14
13
13Silver
321
250
174
200
107
110
90
44118
45Bronze Commended446
350
199
129
176
206249304
110
68
110
107
123
103
32
20
219
275
5934

Overall supermarket medals (including own label wines)
Supermarket
Aldi
Asda
Co-op
Marks and Spencer
Morrisons
Tesco
Waitrose

GoldSilver
2
0
1
1
1
2
3

4
27
5
18
4
23
19

BronzeCommended Total medals
1518
21
48
65
75
11
6
17
16
18
35
7
51254
61
79
26
1948