Waitrose wins Wine Buyer of the Year again

For the fifth year in a row, Waitrose has picked up the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Wine Buyer of the Year award. The winning Waitrose team, which comprises five Masters of Wine, won as a result of their strong performance in this year’s Competition. Forty one of Waitrose’s wines got awards from a submission of 55 wines.

At the same time Tesco was named European Retailer of the Year. The supermarket group took the trophy for ‘showing the most innovation across the board’ for its range of 1,100 wines. Of these, 60 per cent are priced at over £5 a bottle and 50 are new boutique wines costing between £10 and £100. Tesco was also commended for its well-informed in-store wine advisers and its wine club.

McLaren Vale winery Chapel Hill was named Winemaker of the Year. Its outstanding performance in the Competition saw it scoop three trophies for best Cabernet Sauvignon, Best Australian Red for its 2004 Shiraz and Best Australian Producer.

The IWSC awards ceremony took place in the grand hall at Old Billingsgate in London last week.