IWC Awards 2023: The Champion Wines

The International Wine Challenge named its Champion Wines of 2023 last night.
Producers, retailers, distributors and wine writers came together at The Hurlingham Club in London to see the unveiling of the five Champion wines and the crowning of the top winemakers.
The title of Champion Wine is the ultimate accolade from the IWC, the world’s most influential, impartial, and rigorously judged global wine competition, and is reserved for those wines deemed the absolute finest in their category, following a series of intensive blind tastings by an international panel of experts. Here they are…

France claims three Champion awards

Having made headlines as the first vin jaune to win the French White Trophy, Michel Tissot & Fils’ Château-Chalon Vin Jaune 2015 went on to claim the Champion White Wine title last night. This is a first for the Jura region.
This is a complex, elegant, exceptional wine with enchanting walnut, wild mushroom and spicy aromas that open on the palate. Flavours include walnut, dried fruit, curry, saffron, orange peel, and roasted almonds. The finish is long and persistent.
The wine is made from late-harvested, handpicked Savagnin grapes – “the best type for oxidative ‘film’ maturation”, according to the wine producer. The grapes from the first foothills of the Jura are crushed and then pressed, with the juice drawn off and fermented. At the end of fermentation, the wine is put in oak barrels for six years and three months. The 228L barrels are then put into cellars characterised by their dry atmosphere and their difference in temperatures between summer and winter.
During this time, the barrels are never topped up to compensate for the evaporation (angel’s share), so the wine develops a layer or ‘voile’ of yeast on the surface (see main photo), which works away in the darkness of the cellars to give the wine its own unique character. It’s one of the great wines of France but is sadly often overlooked. Until now…
After ageing, the resulting nectar is bottled in 62cl ‘clavelins’ – bottles specially designed for this wine, representing the volume of a litre of Savagnin remaining after maturation.


The other two Champion wines from France were:

• Edouard Delaunay’s Chambertin Grand Cru Rouge 2020, chosen as the Champion Red Wine. This accolade comes after the Burgundy producer (above) had claimed the International Pinot Noir Trophy, French Red Trophy, Chambertin Trophy, and Burgundy Red Trophy.
• Rare Champagne’s Millésime 2008 was named Champion Sparkling Wine, impressing judges with its “intoxicating and alluring nose, featuring aromas of fresh baked pastry, apple crumble and Sorrento lemons”. Chef de caves Émilien Boutillat tells Canopy the recently released 2013 – only the 13th release of this wine since its debut in 1985 with the 1976 vintage – is “another iconic vintage”.

The other two Champion wines were:

• Weingut Hans Wirsching’s Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese 2021, IWC’s Champion Sweet Wine 2023. The judges described this 97-point German wine as an “incredible high-wire wine with lots of sugar, really low alcohol (6%) and yet somehow it works! Rich honey and nectarine fruit flavours complimented by a racy palate, cleansing acidity and a restrained volatile lift.” The Franken producer also took home a total of 14 medals in the 2023 Challenge as well as the German White Trophy for its Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg Riesling 2021.
• Bodegas Fernando De Castilla Oloroso Singular, IWC’s Champion Fortified Wine 2023 (below). The bodegas was founded in the 1960s but was purchased and revamped in 1999 to become one of the most interesting and highest quality bodegas in the Jerez DO. In 2019 the Singular range was launched and denotes a strictly limited, 600-bottle release of extremely old sherry of exceptional quality. The Oloroso is on average 70 years of age and has classically aged notes of iodine, iron ore, tobacco, varnished noble woods, dried fruits, caramel and roasted nuts. With incredible aromatic intensity, concentration on the palate and a remarkably long finish, this is a contemplative style of drink to be sipped over a long period of time.

Honours for other noteworthy wines

• Morris Wines of Victoria, Australia, took home the IWC Award for Consistency over five years, having won six gold medals and three trophies this year for its fortified wines, including the Australian Fortified Trophy which went to its Old Premium Rare Muscat and the Australian Tawny Trophy for its Cellar Reserve Grand Topaque.
• Paul Cluver Wines proved that South African Chardonnay can stand up to the best from France, New Zealand and Australia. The Elgin producer was awarded the IWC Sustainable Trophy last night, having already claimed the International Chardonnay Trophy and South African White Trophy for its Seven Flags Chardonnay 2021 (above).
• The IWC Fairtrade Award went to Mendoza producer Bodega Argento for its Artesano de Argento Organic Fairtrade Malbec 2021 (below), which judges described as “aromatic with rose petals and cooked fruit”.

IWC Great Value Award winners 2023

Of the six IWC Great Value Champion Awards announced last night, Tesco (above) took home the top awards for both sweet and fortified wines. Other UK supermarkets to be recognised in this important category were Marks & Spencer which won the awards for both sparkling and red wines and Waitrose which took home the Great Value Champion award for rosé wines.
IWC Great Value Champion Sweet 2023: Tesco Finest Dessert Semillon 2018
IWC Great Value Champion Fortified 2023: Tesco Finest Pedro Ximenez
IWC Great Value Champion Sparkling 2023: Marks & Spencer Cremant de Bordeaux Brut
IWC Great Value Champion Rosé 2023: Waitrose Loved and Found Sciaccarellu Rosé 2021
IWC Great Value Champion White 2023: Esk Valley Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 (below)



IWC Great Value Champion Red 2023: Marks & Spencer Collection Susana Balbo Malbec 2022

Marks & Spencer (above) was the only UK supermarket to win a gold medal for an own-label still wine. The grapes for the M&S Collection Susana Balbo Malbec 2022 came from the same large vineyard in Los Chacayes, Argentina, as those used in the Susana Balbo Signature Collection. It’s a vineyard Susana and son Jose Lovaglio have been using for 20 years and started renting about five years ago. As for producing this wine for a UK supermarket, Susana told Canopy: “We did it for them because we want to have the brand and the name set in people’s minds. We usually don’t want to go to supermarkets, but we need to go to achieve some volume.”
The wine features stainless-steel fermentation and some declassified barrels from her top wines.