The IWC – International Wine Challenge is one of the most historic wine competitions in London. As IWC judge I can ensure its value but what I care now is to answer the simplest of questions: why? Why, among the numerous wine contests, should a producer choose to participate in the IWC?

This is what the IWC aims to face on the occasions of meeting with producers from different area, as recently done in Abruzzo region (central Italy) thanks to the presentation of MW Peter McCombie (co-President of the IWC) together with Gabriele Gorelli (IWC Ambassador for Italy) with the collaboration of the Consorzio Abruzzo wines.

iwc international wine challenge

The presentation was followed by a tasting of 36 wines that have been awarded with gold, silver and bronze medals in order to best get, all together, the evaluation standards.

So why? Here are the numbers (updated to the 2019 edition):

1984: year of foundation

460: the number of international experts who judged in 2019

38: the countries where the judges come from

51: number of countries entering in 2019

8: the minimum number of checks on each bottle to ensure the process is reliable

12: the minimum number of international judges who taste a medal-winning (over 3 separate occasions)

24%: average increase in sales carrying IWC medal stickers (case study IWC and Coop – 2018)

1.2 billion: people reached by media coverage (2018)

2: there are 2 tranches per each edition and so 2 opportunities for producers to apply (November and April) so choosing the best time to present their wines

£ 188: the total cost (shipping included) of registration (lower than other well-known competitions such as DWWA and IWSC)

See you in London.