Forty independent merchants have completed a marathon judging session at this week’s Wine Merchant Top 100.
Entries hit a record level this year, with most of the main suppliers to the independent trade taking part, along with many smaller importers and several first-time entrants.
The wines were tasted across two sessions, starting with a morning round in which half of the entries were chosen, in a blind tasting, to go through to the next round.
In the afternoon, all wines were reflighted and retasted, this time with scores and notes, to create this year’s Top 100 and Highly Commended list.
The winners will be announced on the opening day of the London Wine Fair, where all the Top 100 wines will be available to taste.
All the wines, including the Highly Commended entries, will be featured in our July supplement.
Wine Merchant editor Graham Holter said: “We mix up our judging panel every year, to give as many indies as possible the chance to take part in the competition, but there are also a few old hands in the room – including members of our senior judging panel – to help things run smoothly and ensure consistency.
“We’re really impressed by how hard our judges worked – and how hard they made the wines work to achieve high scores. We’ll have another crop of worthy winners this year and the list should reflect the quality, and variety, we see in the independent wine trade.”
The Wine Merchant Top 100 