Judges are lining up for the 2023 competition

Calling all importers big and small: make sure your wines are part of the only wine competition judged by independent retailers.

We are looking for exceptional wines that deserve their place on the shelves of independent merchants in the UK. Whether your wine is currently on sale in just one shop or in multiple locations, as long as it’s exclusive the independent trade it’s welcome to take part.

This year, as well as announcing the Top 100 list and our Highly Commended winners, we’re introducing a new category just for wines with a retail price of £15 or below. Wines for this part of the competition enter in the usual way – we’ll simply take price into consideration during the judging.

As always we will also have a dozen or so Trophy winners, and these will be unveiled on the floor of the London Wine Fair in May. The wines will also be available to taste on The Wine Merchant’s stand.

Our judges will be made up of a panel of about 40 independent merchants from across the UK. Many of them like to work through their wines with their teams, so actually the real number of judges is always in excess of 100.

This year’s panel is shaping up nicely, with the following businesses ready to blind taste their way through the best of the wines the UK trade has to offer.

Our judges confirmed so far Alastair and Teresa Wighton at Alteus Wines, Crowbrough; Kathryn Stead at Brigitte Bordeaux, Nottingham; Paul TateSmith at Derventio Wines, North Yorkshire; Sunny Hodge at Diogenes the Dog, London; Sarah Hall at Doddington Hall Farm, Lincolnshire; Julia Jenkins at Flagship Wines, St Albans; Mark Stephenson at Grape & Grain, Morpeth; Graeme Wood & Michael Jelley at Grape Minds, Oxford; Sam Howard at HarperWells, Norwich; Abbi and Dillon Moreno at Flora Fine Wines, London; Morgan Ward at Morgan Edwards, Knutsford; Jon Moore at Mumbles Fine Wines, Swansea; Charlie Jones at Native Vine, Bristol; Cameron McKeown at Oak N4, London; Ted Sandbach at Oxford Wine Company; Alex & Ruth Grahame at SugarBird Wines, Aberdeen; Fabien and Christine Voisin at Tell Me Wine, Monmouthshire; Anne Cleminson at The Cross Street Bottle Shop, Newton Abbot; Jim Dawson at The Jolly Vintner Too, Bournemouth; Michael Boniface at The No 2 Pound Street Cellar, Wendover; Iris Fabre at The Real Drinks Group, London; Rochelle Garbut at The Wine Club, Merseyside; Kieran O’Brien at Three Pillars Wine, Eccleshall; Ed Gillibrand at Tiny’s Tipple, Manchester; Tom I’Anson at Tom I’Anson Wines, Cheltenham; Liam Plowman at Wild & Lees, London; and Kirsty McEwan at WineKraft, Edinburgh.

Editor and Publisher: Graham Holter graham@winemerchantmag.com

Assistant Editor: Claire Harries claire@winemerchantmag.com

Advertising: Sarah Hunnisett sarah@winemerchantmag.com

Accounts: Naomi Young naomi@winemerchantmag.com