There are many wine writers and wine competitions throughout the world, all of them rate wines by scores out of 10, 20 or 100 or by awarding stars or medals. These medals are given by experts of wine who taste the product using a blind tasting method. The results of the tasting determine which wines are judged as being of particularly high quality. The Gold Medal Wines have been declared by the panel to be particularly good examples of wine using the grape and from the area they have been produced in.
One of the foremost of these competitions is the International Wine Challenge, which is an annual competition held in London. No less than 9,300 wines from 35 countries were reviewed in 2007, judged by a panel of 400 experts from 19 countries and the resulting winners are awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. A total of 260 gold medals were awarded in 2007 (representing 2.8% of entries). 1,129 wines won silver medals (12.1 per cent) and bronze medals were awarded to 1,839 wines. Other prestigious competitions are held in Macon, Paris, Brussels and Vienna. If you think you prefer the same tastes and flavour components as the experts, why not use the guide of medal winners to guide your decision.
But where can you get your hands on bottles of Gold Medal winning quality?
One of the best ways of picking up a gold medal wine is to look for it online. Independent online retailers are able to buy directly from smaller wine producers and are therefore able to get their hands on more sought after vintages and fine wines.
But just because it has a Gold Medal does not mean that it has to cost the Earth. Some medal winners come in at about