What Really Happens at a Wine Competition

May is approaching, marking the peak season for wine competitions worldwide. It's rare for a week to pass without news proclaiming yet another "best wine in the world."​

Wine competitions are fascinating and, yes, lucrative events that play a vital role in the industry. Who hasn't felt tempted to buy and taste an award-winning wine after reading such news? Perhaps it becomes your favorite for this summer.​

At Wine Lovers Awards in Hungary in 2024

But what truly happens behind the closed doors of wine competitions?

Curiosity abounds: "Do they know what they're tasting? Is it all rigged?" I can assure you it's not. Having supported several Portuguese competitions and occasionally serving as a judge, including last year's Wine Lovers Awards in Hungary, I can attest to the integrity of the process.​

In all competitions, tastings are blind. Bottles arrive concealed and numbered, and judges are unaware of the wines they're evaluating. At most, we know the grape variety, type of wine, or vintage year. This neutrality is essential to ensure impartiality and sufficient to guide the tasting.​

Judges, typically industry professionals - winemakers, sommeliers, specialized journalists—score wines on a scale, often from 0 to 100. We assess each wine based on technical and sensory criteria: color, brightness, clarity, aromatic intensity, aroma quality, structure, flavor, persistence, harmony—everything counts.​

The tasting environment must be controlled: lighting, temperature, absence of external aromas (yes, even the waiter's perfume matters!). I've witnessed situations where the mere scent of cleaning products in the room compromised the initial tastings. Wine temperature is also crucial: a white served warm may seem heavy and unbalanced, while a very cold red can mask its aromas. These are details that organizers must be attentive to, as they can negatively impact wine perception during tasting.​

Beyond environmental conditions, factors like the tasting order can also influence evaluations. There's no single correct answer here; usually, there's a common denominator in each tasting sequence. It could be the region, grape variety, vintage year, or even the type of wine, especially if it's a less represented category in the competition, as sometimes happens with sweet wines.​

Once seated at the table, each presided over by a Chairperson, the diversity of palates among judges is a double-edged sword. It can lead to a balanced evaluation but also result in score discrepancies.​

The Chairperson's role is to coordinate and energize the tasting. They should be the calming force that brings balance to the scores. Every opinion is valid, but the highest and lowest scores are often discarded to avoid extreme deviations. This technique helps smooth results and make evaluations fairer. If a judge feels comfortable, they may adjust their given score. It's up to the Chairperson to reach a consensus on medal awards and initiate discussions at the table when necessary.​

I believe it's beneficial for each tasting panel to be ideally composed of various types of professionals, as this positively contributes to bringing multiple perspectives, with wines being evaluated from different angles—especially when there are foreign judges.​

I fondly recall the Wine Lovers Awards in Hungary. On the first day, I tasted only red wines from Central European countries. I was surprised by their extraction, volume, and personality. I had to set aside my preferences, forget what I usually taste, and focus on the competition context: Is the wine well-made? Does it represent its origin? Does it deserve a medal?​

Tastings follow sequences or wine flights, where wines of the same type, grape variety, vintage, or region are evaluated together. In a morning session, it's possible to taste 40 or more wines. Yes, it's demanding. Sensory fatigue is real and requires constant concentration. Hence, the importance of breaks, water, plain crackers, and good organization.​

The highest-scoring wines are usually re-evaluated: a Gold may become a Grand Gold. Not all receive medals, as there are quotas based on the number of wines in competition. In other words, it's not enough to achieve a certain score; one must also be among the best.​

Each competition has its rules. In the Tejo Wine Competition, for example, at the end of the last day, a second tasting of the highest-scoring wines is conducted. Theoretically, these wines have already won a Gold Medal but may be elevated to Grand Gold. In this competition, promoted by the Comissão Vitivínicola Regional do Tejo (CVRT), wines scoring between 100 and 94 points receive a Grand Gold Medal; between 93 and 88, a Gold; and if "only" between 87 and 83, a Silver Medal.​

In other competitions, the final round occurs days later with a more restricted group of specialists, such as the Wines of Portugal Competition, organized by ViniPortugal. In this final round, with foreign Masters of Wine among the judges, the highest-scoring wines are re-evaluated, and those to receive the Grand Gold Medal are chosen. With some luck (after all, it's a competition!), they may receive the "Best of the Year" award in various categories - Fortified, Varietal Red, Varietal White, Red, White, Sparkling—and the grand totalist: "Best Wine of the Year."​

Wine competitions are open to any wines that comply with the regulations and are submitted by producers who pay an entry fee per wine, complete the necessary paperwork, and usually send a case of six bottles. This is where the most profitable aspect for the organizing entity lies. Alongside organizing wine events, these are two key areas that support the sustainability of many wine magazines. And rightly so - organizing a well-run competition, as you now understand, requires meticulous planning and highly qualified professionals.

Why would a producer submit their wine to a competition?

In one word - strategy. Awards and medals are powerful marketing tools. A medal-winning wine stands out on the shelves, attracts distributors, and - most importantly - helps build consumer trust by providing a quality benchmark and guidance in choosing a wine. How many times have you bought a bottle just because you saw a medal on the label?

For small producers, a medal can be a passport to national or even international recognition. I’ve seen nearly unknown wines go viral after winning a gold medal at a prestigious competition.

And for us judges?

Beyond the honor of participating, it’s always a moment of professional growth. We get to taste wines from new regions, explore different styles, and exchange ideas with colleagues. I only regret that we are rarely told which wines we’ve tasted. It’s understandable, for impartiality reasons, but it would be enriching.

As a Sommelier and Wine Educator, I understand the importance and value of competitions. But I also recognize the need for clear, consistent, and transparent criteria to ensure that competitions remain a reliable reference for consumers.

Always remember: the results represent the collective judgment of a group of professionals who evaluated a set of wines on a specific day. There is objectivity, yes - but also subjectivity.

We don’t all have the same preferences or sensitivities. And that’s exactly why I see diversity as a strength. If a wine manages to win over a diverse panel, then it truly has something special.

As you can see, a wine’s journey to earning the right to display a medal on its bottle* isn’t easy—it requires quality, consistency, and yes, sometimes a bit of luck.

*Not all producers opt to place the medal sticker on their bottles. There are rules to follow and printing costs to cover. And, of course, it only makes sense if the producer still has bottles in stock. So you may very well be drinking an award-winning wine without even knowing it…