What the Experts Say about the Competition
Alistair Viner, Wine Buyer for Harrods
"The International Wine and Spirit Competition is the pinnacle of wine competitions, looking at all aspects of quality through both taste and analysis. Of the two key competitions in the UK, The International Wine and Spirit Competition is the best. In today's competitive market it is important to stand behind your products and put them forward to be tasted by fellow professionals and to be judged on their merit. With the calibre of the judges that participate in The Competition, one can be assured the results are both consistent and a true reflection of the quality. The Competition is becoming increasingly well-recognised among consumers. As a result, moving forwards, we're looking to make a lot more use of our medal-winners."
Derek Strange, Wine and Spirits Buyer for Waitrose
"Medals definitely help sales. Medal winners probably increase sales by 10 to 20% if there is no other activity on them. And if there is activity, then the increase is much more."
James Rackham, Managing Director of independent retailer Arthur Rackham
"Last year we won a Competition gold for an Armagnac, so we sent out a press release. As a result of that we got five press features, including a mention from Oz Clarke on Food & Drink, and we had the highest profile Armagnac on the market. It had a huge effect on sales."
Warren Winiarski, Proprietor of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
"Diversity in wine and spirits is what keeps our world interesting and stimulating. The Competition encourages and rewards continuing advancement of our crafts of wine growing and winemaking through stringent judging and laboratory testing of our products. It challenges us to develop new techniques to coax the most elegant expression of varietal excellence and terroir from vineyards and to preserve that for the future. It is also the stage for regionally transcendent or classical wines from all the world's wine-producing regions."
Patrick Thomas, group MD for William Grant & Sons
"The Competition is the ultimate recognition of product quality, and so as a company we make it a priority to support it."