About The Global Masters

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.

Though still shy of 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 twenty, 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. You can read more about our judging process here.

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.

  •  Our judges are the very best in the world, meaning that any medal is an absolute demonstration of quality.
  •  Every medal-winner is published in the the drinks business both in print and online, putting your success in front of thousands of trade professionals.
  •  As global competitions, your wines will be judged against their direct competitors, adding to the prestige of your win.
  •  Variety and style are key factors for consumer decisions, so our competition medals are immediately understood in the retail or on-trade environment.