Here’s how you can take enter The London Wine Competition 2021 and take advantage of early day pricing if you enter by November 30, 2020.
For any drinks competition to grow and gain credibility with the producers, brand owners and distributors it is looking to work with then it has to listen to what they want and then act on it.
That’s what the founders and organisers of the London Wine Competition, the Beverage Trade Network, has done. They have gone out of their way to talk to both the wineries about what sorts of wines they should be entering, but also the judges then tasked with assessing them, what it is they would like to see the awards do better.
It’s why the competition has taken a major step forward in driving a direct-to-consumer strategy for how it promotes the winning wines and producers.
By launching the London Drinks Guide it now has a platform to really help producers talk directly to the wine enthusiasts who are interested in understanding more about how their wines are made.
It also gives a chance to the judges, many of whom are sommeliers and wine buyers working in many of London’s top bars and restaurants, to share their stories and be featured on The London Drinks Guide to explain the kinds of wines they sell in their outlets and why.
Some of the sommeliers who help judge the London Wine Competition are also profiled on London Drinks Guide
Sid Patel, who heads up the Beverage Trade Network and the London Competitions told The Buyer: “We pride ourselves on how close we are to the wineries, the producers, the importers and distributors that are the heart of the drinks industry. We launched the London Competition to give them an awards platform that tasted and judged wines, beers and spirits in the same way that consumers do. How they taste, what their overall quality is like, how much they cost, and what do they look on shelf. That’s what makes the London Wine Competition, for example, different from all the other global wine awards. We go way beyond just the quality of the wine. It has to be at a price and have the look and feel that reflects that quality to win a medal.”
What else is new:
As well as the London Drinks Guide the London Wine Competition will also be supported in the following ways:
Get Drinks Delivered: London Wine Competition winners will be integrated into the Get Drinks Delivered consumer platform that was also introduced in 2020 by the Beverage Drinks Network to help retailers and brands owners to promote their direct to consumer websites and delivery services in response to Covid-19.
Judges: More Master of Wine, Master Sommeliers and real trade buyers have been added to the judging panel. Simon Field MW, David Round MW, Barbara Drew MW and two more Master Sommeliers – Yves Desmaris M.S., Svetoslav Manolev MS
Shelf talker templates: Entrants will now get tasting notes, shelf talker templates with tasting notes and scores when the 2021 results are announced.
The shelf talkers will be available in the entrant’s zone free of cost.
The Top 100 wine list of the best performing wines, spirits and beers in the London Competitions has also been introduced to help give consumers an even bigger steer on what products they should be buying.
Entries open for 2021 competition
The entry process for the 2021 London Wine Competition is now open and anyone looking to enter can take advantage now of an early bird pricing package – up to November 30 – that allows you to save £15 per entry.
Once again all wines entered into the competition will be assessed and judged by a leading panel of top-level wine buyers with current direct commercial buying responsibility. The panel also includes wine consultants and experts who are also directly involved in the development of new wine brands or buying wine for commercial resale.
These are the buying experts that are judging and assessing wines every day in their working lives and are therefore ideally placed to pick out the winning wines for the 2021 competition.
They are also ensuring any wine that receives a gold, silver or bronze medal will work on any on-trade wine list and help outlets sell more wine and attract more customers.
Greg Sherwood MW of Handford Wines taking part in the London Wine Competition
Here are the key details for the entry process for the 2021 competition.
Key Dates:
Early bird ends: November 30, 2020
Registration ends for entries: February 20, 2021
Warehouse closes for entries: February 26, 2021
Judging date: March 15, 2021
Winners announced: March 30, 2021
Fee Schedule:
£95 Early Bird: Up to November 30, 2020
£110 Regular Entry Fee: December 1 to February 20, 2021
The Judging
Judges are asked to give scores to the wines based on the key criteria with a weighting system in place to ensure quality wines come to the top.
The awards are broken down like this:
Q (Quality Score) + Value Score (V) + Package Score (P) = London Wine Competition Score.
A separate weighted score is given for each of the three parts of the judging process (Quality gets twice the weight. The scores are calculated with other judges for the same product on the team to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded.)
Quality score: marked out of 100
Value score: marked out of 100
Packaging score: marked out of 100
- Click here to enter the London Wine Competition.
