Success for Hampshire at the International Wine Challenge
Local wine legend Gerard Basset awarded the lifetime achievement award and Hampshire businesses
scoop merchant prizes
At this year’s International Wine Challenge (IWC) Merchant Awards UK Hampshire had much tocelebrate, bringing home this year’s awards for IWC Specialist Merchant Germany and IWC Specialist
Merchant Fortified. In addition, renowned wine industry figure and former New Forest resident GerardBasset was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the IWC Awards.
IWC Specialist Merchant Germany 2019 went to The WineBarn, Winchester, again retaining the title
from 2018. With a list containing over 140 German Rieslings alone, the judges were impressed by theamazing choice of German wines that the WineBarn had to offer.
Fordingbridge’s Vintage Wine and Port took home the prize for IWC Specialist Merchant Fortified 2019.
The Fordingbridge shop is housed in a beautiful 1830s building, and is now the UK’s largest retailer ofvintage wine and port gifts online, housing nearly 25,000 bottles in its cellars.
This follows on from the success of local Hampshire winery Raimes, which won a sought-after Gold
medal in the wine judging for the International Wine Challenge with its Classic Brut 2014 Sparkling,scooping up an impressive 95 out of 100 points. It was one of only two English wines to win a Gold
medal in its stage of the competition. Raimes winery is a family-run vineyard that planted its firstvines in 2010 and has already won many accolades to which vineyards across the world aspire. Thewinery exclusively plants Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir (the Champagne trio of grapes),which are all perfectly suited to the chalky slopes of the South Downs. All of its wines are made in thetraditional Champagne method, using only its own grapes. The family’s passion really shines throughin everything that they do in the vineyard, which they run alongside a fully working farm inHampshire.
Much-loved sommelier-turned-hotelier Gerard Basset, who passed away in January, was also
honoured at the awards ceremony. The award comes a month after a Service of Thanksgiving at
Winchester Cathedral for the remarkable life of Gerard Basset. His career included being the first to
simultaneously hold the Master of Wine, Master Sommelier, MBA Wine Business and MSc from theInternational Organisation of Vine and Wine, and being a founding partner in the ground-breaking
Hotel du Vin group.
In its 36th year, the International Wine Challenge is accepted as the world’s most rigorous, impartial andinfluential wine competition. The International Wine Challenge Merchant Awards UK celebrate themost successful small and large businesses, who deliver an outstanding service to wine consumers. Theawards are based on top quality wines, but, most importantly, in this sector of the awards, of acommercially successful, viable, and proven business model. This year’s winners were announced on
9th July and the full list of those awarded can be seen here, and the Merchant Awards results here.
NOTES TO EDITORS:The International Wine Challenge
In its 36th year, the International Wine Challenge is accepted as the world’s most rigorous, impartial andinfluential wine competition. The IWC assesses every wine ‘blind’ and judges each for its faithfulness to style,region and vintage. Each medal-winning wine is tasted on at least three separate occasions by a minimum of 12different judges including Masters of Wine. Awards include medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and Commendedawards.
The IWC Merchant Awards UK
The Merchant Awards were introduced to the IWC in 1990. A distinguished panel of judges examines each entry
and, over the course of two days, decides on the winners for each category. The judges focus on the businessside of retailing; it’s not just about having great wines. This year the judging panel comprised Laura Jewell MW,
Helen McGinn, Peter McCombie MW, Tim Atkin MW and Charles Metcalfe. Laure Patry joined the team to assist
with the judging of the Restaurant Wine List award.
The IWC is committed to helping consumers discover great wine, and the medals displayed on winning bottles
and in winning shops 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 7759 7400 : 17 Exeter Street, London, WC2E 7DU, UK