Global overview of the Wine Competitions Landscape
Let us introduce you to the realm of wine competitions, where evaluations and scores determine winners as vineyards compete for recognition and praise. Join us as we dive into the data-driven world of these prestigious events, exploring the metrics that guide evaluations and revealing the numerical stories behind the industry’s top-rated picks.
The information presented in this article is the culmination of years of meticulous work by the Global Wine Rating team and contains analytical data after processing the lists of awarded wines officially published by the organizers of 795 wine competitions events held starting 2020.
Information about the awarded wines was taken from more than 250 of the largest Wine Competitions out of at least 600 held in the world every year. Priority was given to international competitions, while the results of national competitions were processed with lower priority. You can find the list of all wine competitions taken into the study here.
Wine competitions exhibit considerable variation in the number of samples submitted and medals awarded. Following the guidelines set by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, most competitions adhere to the recommendation that only 30% of submitted samples receive medals.
Since 2020, over 431,090 medals have been awarded globally, with a significant concentration in Europe:
Examining trends over the past four years reveals a slight downturn in the industry until 2022, followed by a notable recovery in 2023:
The same trend shows the number of wine producers participating each year in wine competitions. Out of the 33736 wine producers participating in wine competitions since 2020 the lowest year of activity was 2022. But — only 7135 wineries submitted wine samples each 4 years in a row and thus can be considered core participants.
Similarly, the participation of wine producers in competitions demonstrates fluctuations, with the lowest activity recorded in 2022. However, from 33736 wineries participating since 2020 only a fraction (7,135 in total) consistently submitted wine samples each year during this period, categorizing them as core participants.
Furthermore, data reveals that only 56% of wine producers received medals in at least two calendar years, while a mere 21% participated in competitions annually.
The top ten largest wine competitions worldwide accounted for nearly half of the total medals awarded, with the Decanter World Wine Awards leading the pack, boasting close to 60,000 medals since 2020.
Top 10 countries by the number of medals received since 2020
The distribution of medals among countries correlates with their respective wine production volumes.
However, assessing the average number of medals received per awarded wine provides a more comprehensive insight into a country’s level of engagement in wine competitions.
Notably, Moldova emerges as the frontrunner in this regard, with an average of almost three medals per awarded wine — an impressive feat for this small yet highly active wine-producing nation, which amassed 4,231 medals solely from international competitions (no national competitions were taken into consideration for this country).
Medal distribution by category
The next chart illustrates the distribution of wine medals across various categories, providing insight into the comparative recognition of different types of wines.
Top producing wineries and wines
Identifying the top wine producers in each part of the world actively participating in wine competitions can be a complex task, particularly due to the global reach of many major wine brands. Moreover, the distinction between separate brands and submissions by parent companies adds another layer of intricacy. Nevertheless, we’ve compiled the following top charts to provide insight into the leading wine producers across continents by the number of received awards for the last 4 years.
The results of the processed information will be reviewed in the next article, where we will list some interesting charts, mentioning the best wines in multiple categories.
Moreover, very soon we will publish a similar article with the data for year 2023, emphasizing the best successes the wineries had recently.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to email us at info@gustos.life
