Our story
The Global Wine Masters Competitions began in 2013 as an offshoot of the drinks business, the world’s leading magazine for the wine and spirits trade. We wanted to use our industry expertise to promote the world’s best wines.
After surpassing our tenth anniversary, we have grown immensely to become one of the most respected competition series in the trade. From just four competitions in our first year, we have expanded to more than thirty, encompassing thousands of entries.
What we do
The Wine Masters take a distinct, new approach to the way wine is judged. Each competition showcases a key variety or style – such as Pinot Noir, sparkling or organic – and is open to wines from anywhere in the world. This means that preconceived notions of the importance of location are pushed aside, allowing wines from across the globe to be judged purely on style and price.
Each tasting identifies the best examples of its grape category, from all around the world and from every price bracket, meaning a Bulgarian wine can be tasted alongside a Burgundian without prejudice or bias. For any wines that do not fit a category, we run biannual open tastings for all styles of wine.
All of our competitions are tasted blind, with only a price bracket and the category revealed to the judges. We work with only the highest calibre of judges, with panels comprised solely of Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers and senior buyers. They award medals ranging from Bronze through to Gold and, for a handful of exceptional examples, the title of Master.
The Grand Master is a special distinction introduced within The Global Wine Masters in 2025 to recognise the single most outstanding wine of the competition.
After the initial judging, all wines that have achieved a Master medal — the highest accolade awarded in the blind tasting, are re-tasted blind by the Master of Wine panel chairs. From this elite group of top-performing wines, the panel selects the one that stands out as the best of the best.
This wine is then awarded the Grand Master medal, signifying its exceptional quality and its position as the highest-scoring wine of the entire competition.
Making it worth your while
The Wine Masters series is founded on a unique structure, industry knowledge and high standards. Thanks to these three pillars, a medal win offers great value and opportunities to your brand.