English wine producers go from strength to strength, winning 16 medals overall this year, compared to 12 in 2005. Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 1998 and Denbies Greenfields 2003 were declared the world’s finest sparkling wines, winning Gold ‘Best in Class’ in the bottle fermented sparkling wine categories. English wines also won one Silver “Best in Class”, five Silver and eight Bronze medals in the competition.

The IWSC is the longest-established and premier international wine and spirits competition attracting nearly 6,000 entries from around the world. There has been a huge increase in countries participating in the last year, up from 57 in 2005 to 73 in 2006. It has the most rigorous judging of any competition of this kind, achieved through a two-stage judging process of professional blind tasting and detailed chemical and microbiological analysis.

In the international spirits league table (also below), Scotland came top thanks to an outstanding selection of scotch whiskies, beating France in second place and South Africa in third. The medal and trophy winners will be announced today, Thursday 20 July, at the IWSC’s Annual Showcase Tasting at the Gallery at Vinopolis, London.

“This year New World wines have dominated with particularly strong entries from Australia and the best year ever for South Africa. Scottish distillers have had a bumper year in the spirit categories, with an outstanding selection of scotch whiskies,” said Anthony von Mandl, President of the IWSC 2006.

“IWSC medals are a stamp of excellence for consumers, proving that the wine has been judged by some of the best noses in the business to be at the very least ‘well above average’, and at best to be ‘outstanding’. Wine buyers from the novice to the connoisseur looking for an expert recommendation should look out for the IWSC medal on wine labels in shops.”

The IWSC always holds a few surprises and 2006 is no different. Other highlights include:

• A Shiraz from Canada winning in the Shiraz category, beating entries from Shiraz giants like Australia.
  
  
• A Mongolian vodka ‘Chinggis Khaan Vodka’ won a bronze medal for spirits.
  
  
• India and China are creating a new world order, winning five and two Bronze medals respectively for wine.

Shortlists for trophies including: the Product Trophy Winners, Wolf Blass Winemaker of the Year, the Gallo Family Vineyards European Retailer of the Year Trophy and the V&S Group Distiller of the Year Trophy will also be announced at the Annual Showcase Tasting on 20 July. The winners will be revealed at the International Wine and Spirit Competition Banquet 2006 held on Tuesday 31 October at Old Billingsgate.

A full list of medal winners is available at www.iwsc.net