The Buyer | Medal winners in London Wine & London Spirits Competitions 2024

London Wine Competition

To find out the winners in the London Wine Competition click here.

Judging for the 2024 London Wine Competition took place in London in March and featured a highly experienced panel of senior buyers, sommeliers and Masters of Wine including: Eric Zwiebel MS, Sara Muirhead MW, Matteo Montone MS, David Round MW, Susan Hulme MW, William Lowe MW, Demetri Walters MW, Svetoslav Manolev MS, Christopher Delalonde MS, Annette Scarfe MW, Alvaro Ribalta MW, Beans Boughton MW, Tim Triptree MW, Yves Desmaris MS, and Mike Best MW amongst others.

The top five countries of wines entered were Australia, Italy, Portugal, Spain and France with most wines being wines made with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot.

Key awards were handed out to:

Best Wine of The Year 2024: Cat Amongst the Pigeons Fat Cat Tawny from Australia.
Best Winery of The Year 2024: Justin Vineyards & Winery in the US.
Best Wine of The Year (by Quality) 2024:Cat Amongst the Pigeons Fat Cat Tawny from Australia.
Best Wine of The Year (by Value) 2024: 2021 Choosy Beggars Cabernet Merlot from Australia.
Best Wine of The Year (by Package)2024: Mount Pleasant Winery Tawny Port Vol XXIII from the US.

View the full list of results here by grape variety and by country.

Sid Patel, chief executive of the Beverage Trade Company that runs the London Competitions said: “London still attracts the most sophisticated taste palate when it comes to trade judges making it a solid test ground for both international and domestic brands to get critical feedback especially on the new products that producers plan to take out in the market.”

David Round MW said of the judging: “The London Wine Competition is uniquely positioned as being business-orientated and the fact that it attracts a lot of Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers gives it the highest overall standard of any competition when it comes to the quality of judges.”

Sara Muirhead MW added: “It was very well organised. The judges were of a very high calibre. I was particularly impressed by the English sparkling wines, as well as two sparkling wines from Wallonia. A flight of red Bordeaux also stood out for me, as well as two aromatic whites from Moldova from the Viorica grape, plus a 2015 Rioja Reserva.”

“I liked scoring by quality, value and packaging,” said Susan Hulme MW. “This is a very interesting and well organised competition with some new ideas on judging wine not just on quality. There was a nice friendly, positive atmosphere. I enjoyed the Greek white category and some of the Australian and Mexican red wines were great to discover as well”.

London Spirits Competition

To find out the winners in the London Spirits Competition click here.

The top 10 countries that entered the 2024 London Spirits Competitions were United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, United States, France, Netherlands, Mexico, Croatia, Poland and India.

The top seven categories were gin, rum, whiskey, liqueurs, vodka, brandy, and tequila with gin still the biggest overall category with 520 gin brands entered.

2024 London Spirits Competition Winners:

Spirit of the Year: Eminente Gran Reserva Edition n°1

Vodka of the Year: Ramsbury Single Estate vodka

Rum of the Year: Eminente Gran Reserva Edition n°1

Tequila of the Year: Reserve Collection Añejo

Gin of the Year: Ukiyo Japanese Yuzu gin

Whisky of the Year: Dùn Cana Sherry Quarter Cask Release

Brandy of the Year: Koya Brandy xo 15 years old

Liqueur of the Year: Aura Teranino

Cognac of the Year: Très Vieille Reserve

Mezcal of the Year: Ronda de Almas

RTD of the Year: Sabatini Negroni rtd