With hundreds of wines on store shelves, restaurant lists, and even more on the internet, finding the perfect one can be quite daunting. The Sommelier’s Choice Awards is set to become your own personal guide for wines. Whether you’re looking for a crisp Chardonnay for your summer picnics or a rich Merlot - Cabernet blend for a date night, a recommendation from some of the most knowledgeable wine experts awaits your attention. 

Each year, the Sommeliers Choice Awards recognizes wines that will be a great addition to a restaurant/bar’s wine list, or in your personal wine cellar. Here’s why you should peruse the list of winners before heading out to your favorite wine bar. 

How the competition is judged

To begin, wines are blind tasted and evaluated by their quality. Then the Sommeliers Choice Awards takes it a step ahead, and focuses on all aspects that make an all-round great wine. Along with the quality, the wines are judged on the basis of their food pairing ability, typicity, value, and packaging; with the pure intent of throwing the spotlight on wines that will settle well on a restaurant’s wine list, and on our shelves. 

You may ask, how do these factors play a part in the judgement of wines? The food pairing ability of a wine determines how versatile it is. Is the wine only good when paired with a certain dish? Or can it be paired with a variety of meals? Next comes the wine’s typicity. For a wine to excel in its score for typicity, it has to resonate well with its origins. If it’s a Merlot from Sonoma, does it represent a Merlot from Sonoma? The value factor determines whether the wine is worth its price tag when compared to its taste and quality. And lastly, the packaging. As shoppers, we buy with our eyes first - meaning, if we find an attractive looking wine bottle, we are most likely to pick it up. The packaging aspect measures if the wine label and overall look of the bottle complements its quality and value. 

A wine excelling in all aspects is deemed to be an outstanding wine, grabbing the spot of ‘Wine of the Year’, like the Kalaris Pinot Noir, which reigned over wines in the 2020 Sommeliers Choice Awards. The competition also awards other aspects of wines with its special categories like Best Wine by Varietal, Best Red Wine of the Year, Best Wine By The Glass, and more. 

Scores are given out of a 100, where wines ranking between 96-100 earn a Double Gold Medal - the highest of them all. Those that are scored between 90-95 are awarded with a gold medal. The ones marked between 80-89 are crowned with a silver medal, and wines scoring within 70-79 are given a bronze. 

Behind the scores

While the judging process of the Sommeliers Choice Awards stands out amongst other international wine competitions, the ensemble of judges on the panel is what puts our trust in the winning wines. The judging panel at the Sommeliers Choice Awards is host to some of the most influential names in the wine industry. From Sommeliers, Master Sommeliers, Master of Wines, wine buyers, and other experts - these judges come from a rich history of working with wines on a day-to-day basis. 

This year’s judging panel includes names from some of the most prestigious establishments in the restaurant and bar world. The winning wines will be awarded by, Brian Petersen Jr - Wine Director at Mastro's Steakhouse San Francisco; Tiffany Tobey - Wine Director at Stonebriar Country Club, Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex; Mauro Cirilli - Wine & Beverage Director for Press Club and Schroeder's; Sean Widger - Wine Director at Alexander's Steakhouse, San Francisco and many more. 

Celebrating wines from around the world

Each year, the Sommeliers Choice Awards sees wines from wine regions around the world. The judges taste wines from big boys like Barefoot Wines, Ehlers Estate, Cannonball Wines, to those coming from lesser-known producers, all looking for their rightful spot amongst restaurants and bars.

The competition highlights wines from some of our favorite wine regions like France, Italy, Australia, USA, and appreciates wines from smaller wine regions that make excellent wines. 

This year, the Sommeliers Choice Awards is set to take place on May 17th, with thousands of wines ready to be tasted and awarded for their excellence. 

So the next time there’s a wine list in front of you, the Sommeliers Choice Awards winners guide is the one to pick from!