Monday 10thSeptember sees wine judges head to Dorset’s Langham Wine Estate for the 2018 South West Vineyards Association (SWVA) competition. The annual awards, founded some forty years ago, provide an exciting opportunity for SWVA members’ distinctive wines to be tasted by an expert judging panel consisting of Masters of Wine and wine trade professionals, with the results to be announced the following day.
The 2018 competition, judged to international standards, sees 95 entries from 28 artisan producers across the South West counties including Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, and Gloucestershire. On the panel this year are wine experts Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Lindsay Oram, Richard Coulson, Jemma Mitchell and, new to the SWVA line up, Alex Taylor.
SWVA chairman Guy Smith comments on the competition: “The standard of wine entered by our members is increasing year on year, reinforcing the consistently high quality produced here in the South West by largely family-owned vineyards. With seven producers entering for the first time we’re very excited to taste this year’s wines. Sparkling white is the biggest group again, very closely followed by still whites. We look forward to sharing the results nationwide on Tuesday to ensure even more consumers are aware of the outstanding wine available across this burgeoning region.”
Caroline Gitsham, Head of Sales and Marketing at Langham Wine Estate, continues: “Having entered our wines into the SWVA competition for several years it’s a privilege to now be hosting the competition as the quality and reputation of South West wine continues to increase year on year. Alongside managing the general administration and logistics for the competition and continuing to focus on producing outstanding wines ourselves, our emphasis is also on helping the SWVA promote the stories of our producers. Following the judging on Monday we look forward to welcoming fellow members for a tour of the vineyard and winery then lunch in the Vineyard Café ahead of the results being revealed.”
Follow @SWVineyardsUK for updates on judging day on Monday 10th, and to be the first to hear of the awards announced on Tuesday 11thSeptember. Visit the SWVA website for the full results: http://swva.info/news
