The London Wine Competition goes into its 4th year stronger than ever on the back of record entries for the 2020 awards and a new dedicated website, The London Drinks Guide, that has been launched to help promote and tell the stories of the wineries, producers and wines that come out top in the competition. For winning a medal is one thing, getting the chance to promote it directly to consumers is the real point of difference.

Here’s how you can enter the London Wine Competition before the deadline of February 22, 2021.

For any drinks competition to offer an advantage to producers, brand owners and distributors it is looking to work with, the organisers have to listen to what brands want and act on it.

That’s what the founders and organisers of the London Wine Competition, the Beverage Trade Network, have done. They have discussed at length with both the wineries about what sorts of wines they should be entering, and the judges 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, the competition now has a platform to really help producers talk directly to wine enthusiasts who are interested in understanding more about how their wines are made, their stories and their award-winning wines. 

It also gives a chance to the judges, most of whom are sommeliers, master 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 profiled on the 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 wineries, producers, 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 they look like on the retail 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.”

Entries open for 2021 competition

The entry process for the 2021 London Wine Competition is now open and will be closing soon. Brands looking to grow in 2021 via London competitions must enter by February 22, 2021.

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 ensure that 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 judging at the London Wine Competition

Here are the key details for the entry process for the 2021 competition.

Key Dates:

Judging date: March 15, 2021

Winners announced: April 12, 2021