Decanter World Wine Awards 2018: Full results now available
See which wines won medals at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, and find a great bottle to try.
DWWA 2018 quick links to results
Once on the results page, click on the individual wine names to see tasting notes and stockist information
Key stats:
Our team of 275 judges, including many of the world’s top experts, blind tasted 16,903 wines tasted in the competition. By the end, they had awarded 50 Best in Show medals, 149 Platinum medals, 240 Gold medals, 3,454 Silver medals, and 7,079 Bronze medals.
Where the top medals went
Map of medals down to Gold. Credit: Patrick Grabham / Decanter
More about the results
See our initial story on Best in Show winners
France won the most Best in Show medals, with its producers scooping 12 of the most coveted accolade at the DWWA. Rhône, in particular, shone brightly by winning three Best in Show medals and five Platinums, including two Value Best in Shows:
- Cave de Cairanne, Camille Cayran La Réserve, Cairanne, Rhône 2017
- LePlan-Vermeersch, RS, Côtes du Rhône Villages Suze-la-Rousse, Rhône 2017
The Value Best in Show medals are new for this year’s competition; they are given out to winners with in the price band below £15 per bottle.
All Best in Show winners were picked from those wines that had already reached the Platinum tier.
Find out about the judging process here
France was followed by Italy with a total of six Best in Show medals. Winning wines are dominated by the Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, and Corvina grapes.
In Spain, Rioja and Sherry performed particularly well. A Best in Show award also went to a Cava (Llopart, Ex·Vite Gran Reserva Brut 2008), which judges described as rich, textured, deeply flavoured Cava of huge depth and resource, perfectly blended and aged.
Read about judging week and who judges the Best in Show winners
The UK has won three Platinum medals this year and also nine Gold medals, adding further evidence of the country’s emergence as a quality wine producer. The three Best in Show winners were:
- Camel Valley, Pinot Noir Rose Brut, East Sussex 2010
- Digby Fine English, Brut, Hampshire NV
- Henners, Reserve Brut, East Sussex 2010
Across the Atlantic, California has proved its success by dominating the US league table this year with 12 top medals, with six awarded to their iconic Cabernet Sauvignons including the Best in Show award which judges credit as having the ‘classic Napa fruit’ (Newton Vineyard 2015). One of the Golds goes to a 100% Petit Vedot from Luna Vineyards.
Medal winners across Europe at DWWA 2018. Credit: Patrick Grabham / Decanter.
Unexpected wins
There was a marked increase in entries from regions and countries that are emerging – or, in some cases, re-emerging – on the international wine scene. Eastern Europe is an area to watch, according to this year’s results.
Czech Republic won a Platinum medal (Vinařství Gotberg, Ryzlink Rýnský, Moravia, Czech Republic 2016), and so did Macedonia (Tikveš, Barovo, Povardarje, Macedonia 2015; made using Kratošija and Vranac, a variety indigenous to the Balkans) and Georgia (Maranuli, Qvevri Kisi, Kakheti, Georgia 2017). The unoaked Georgian Kisi has won the Value Platinum award.
More winners
Elsewhere, Australia has a strong DWWA 2018 with six Best in Show medals and 20 Platinums. Shiraz enjoyed a good year for Australia.
Argentina received a Best in Show award for a Malbec from Bodegas Fabre – Viñalba Gran Reservado Malbec 2015.
Klein Constantia from South Africa also won a Best in Show medal for its Vin de Constance 2014 vintage. The 2013 vintage also won a Best in Show medal in 2017.
Asia has established itself as a rising star at the DWWA.
China has won eight Gold medals for wines from a variety of regions, underlining its diversity as a wine producing country.
Winners included a 100% Vidal from Liaoning (Chateau Changyu Icewine, Golden Icewine Valley Blue Label Vidal 2015), a Petit Manseng from Shandong (Taila Winery, Petit Manseng Weichai 2016) and a Marselan from Xinjiang (Zhongfei Winery, Caring Nature Barrel Aged Marselan, Yanqi 2015). Xinjiang has received outstanding results with four Golds in total.
Search all results from China in DWWA 2018 here
Read more on our sister site DecanterChina.com
Japan won three Golds thanks to Koshu. This included two wines from Grace winery in Yamanashi, Chubu: Kayagatake Koshu 2017 and Private Reserve Koshu 2017.
Taste DWWA 2018 winners in London
Join Decanter to taste more than 100 medal winning wines from the DWWA 2018 on Monday 2 July 5pm- 9pm.
Click here to book tickets to our DWWA tasting
Thanks to sponsors
DWWA could not work without support from key sponsors. The DWWA team would like to thank Riedel for supplying glassware and Tynant Water for keeping judges hydrated throughout.
Go to main DWWA 2018 results search
See our DWWA homepage
Editing by Chris Mercer
