The ninth edition of the WineGB Awards saw the number of still wines entered and awarded medals surpass sparkling wines for the first time with wines made from 11 different varieties gaining golds. The competition also saw the first ever 99 points awarded.
Still wines represented more than half of entries (54%) to this year’s Awards gaining 161 medals in comparison to 151 for sparkling wines. However, when it came to gold medals, sparkling wines came out on top, picking up almost 67% of the total despite a strong showing from still Chardonnay wines this year.
Unsurprisingly given the bumper year, 2023 was the most popular vintage entered (31%), with wines from this year picking up 88 medals in total. The oldest wine submitted was from 2009, once again demonstrating the ageing potential of GB wines.
Kent retained the top spot as the county with the most golds and medals overall. However, there was increased competition from the western counties for the top medals with Dorset and Hampshire achieving 7 golds, Devon and Somerset with 4, and East Sussex and West Sussex each with 3. It is also worth noting that four of the gold medal winning wines were made from fruit sourced from the county of Essex which is proving to be a consistent source of high-quality grapes for still wine production.
In terms of medals overall, there was notable success achieved by London-based urban wineries, which together secured a total of 14 medals. Kent achieved 85 medals in total followed by Hampshire (40), East Sussex (29), Dorset (17), Devon (13), Gloucestershire (13), Cornwall (11), West Sussex (11) and Norfolk (9).
This year, of the medals awarded, 12% were gold, 38% were silver, and 32% were bronze. A total of 11 different varieties were used to produce gold medal winning wines, including the first golds achieved for Albariño, Sauvignon Blanc, and a rosé made from Gamay.
Chardonnay once again performed well among the gold medal winning sparkling wines, accounting for 7 of the 8 blanc de blancs expressions that achieved top marks. Classic cuvées, which were the most popular style of fizz entered into the competition this year (26% of entries) also did well, achieving 8 golds. All but two of these wines were Chardonnay dominant. Among the still wines, Chardonnay also reigned supreme accounting for 35% of the gold medals, with Bacchus as the second most successful variety achieving 3 golds.
Susie Barrie MW, Chair of the judging panel, comments: “This year we had hands down the most exciting final lineup of Chardonnays we’ve ever seen at WineGB. The range of styles and the inherent quality of the wines has never been better.”
The medal results can be read in full here
