The Buyer | Judges announce winners in the 2021 London Wine Competition

This year’s London Wine Competition saw wines entered from nearly 40 countries, covering 135 different grape varietals. But which ones came out top? Here are the highlights from this year’s competition.

“Out of all the competitions I judge for, the LWC is unique in assessing wines in the context of both the liquid in isolation as well as in the context of how a shopper would see it.” Anne Jones, category manager for drinks at Waitrose, speaks for many of the judges who take part in the London Wine Competition, as this is a competition that is fast becoming one of the most important in the wine industry as it judges wines in the same way that consumers do.

Winning a medal in the London Wine Competition means as a winery, producer or winemaker, you know you are making wines that are in tune with what wine drinkers are looking for. A competition that puts every wine through three different stages of judges. A blind tasting to assess quality, then the judges are told how much the wine costs and they are shown the bottle so they can assess its packaging and design.

The same criteria professional wine buyers use to determine which wines go on their own lists in their restaurants, bars or supermarket and retail shelves.

2021 Results

The results of the 2021 London Wine Competition are out and reflect the best wines being made in the world. In all there were wines from 36 countries to judge, with the most entries coming from Australia, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, United States and Moldova. The biggest increase in wines came from Moldova and interestingly the three most popular grape varieties entered were, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

But the overall winning wine came from Australia with 96 points awarded to the 2015 Anubis Cabernet Sauvignon made by Lévrier Wines.

Sid Patel, founder of the London Wine Competition, and chief executive of the Beverage Trade Network that runs the event, says: “We are delighted to see how far the London Wine Competition has come in the last 12 months, particularly considering the difficult conditions we have all been faced with, which also meant judging and hosting the event was more complicated than normal.

“But thankfully the wine itself is not disturbed by the pandemic and it has been great to see the quality, diversity and level of wine being entered from all over the world. Our thanks, go to all the producers that entered, but, in particular, to the hard work and professionalism of our judges whose calibre and expertise are so important in the overall success of the London Wine Competition.”

Top winners in the 2021 London Wine Competition

Levrier by Jo Irvine 2015 Anubis Cabernet Sauvignon_2021_Wine_of_the_Year_

Wine Of The Year – Lévrier by Jo Irvine 2015 Anubis Cabernet Sauvignon, Levrier Wines Australia.
Winery Of The Year – Bodegas Habla (Bodegas BH S.L.), Spain
Best Wine By Quality – Levrier by Jo Irvine 2015 Anubis Cabernet Sauvignon, Levrier Wines, Australia
Best Wine By Value – Habla Nº22, Spain, Bodegas Habla
Best Wine By Packaging – Silverado Vineyards Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, United States.