Selecting the Judges
The Competition boasts the most highly qualified group of international judges. To ensure that products are evaluated with consumer expectations in mind and to be as consistent as possible in evaluating the wines and spirits, judging panels consist of MWs and prominent trade judges, balanced with qualified 'lay' (non trade) judges.
All judges, including MWs, go through an induction and a trial-judging day before they are permitted to officially judge on a panel.
Judges are selected for individual panels based on their knowledge and experience of the products being assessed, each panel being led by a senior 'chair' judge and their performance is constantly under review.
To quote David Wrigley MW - Chair of IWSC Technical & Judging Committee: "We are not trying to be 'big brother' but we owe it to participating producers and the consumer to be as accurate as possible in our evaluation of each wine and spirit being assessed."