China wins 18 medals at world’s largest wine competition
China nearly doubled its awards at the 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards, the largest wine competition in the world. Chinese wines won 18 medals (11 medals in 2011), signaling the nation’s potential as a winemaking country. The Chinese wines won one Gold medal, two Silver, 10 Bronze and five Commended.
The majority of winning wines are Cabernet blends, but the list includes a Reserve Traminer 2010 from Château Sun God – part of Great Wall – in Hebei, Domaine Helan Mountain’s Reserve Pinot and Reserve Merlot, a Chardonnay and the white grape Dragon Eye, both from Great Wall.
Among the top winners was Chateau Reifeng-Auzias in Shandong province which won the Regional Trophy for Red Middle, Far East & Asia under £10 for its Cabernet 2010, with the same producer taking Silver for its Syrah 2010.
Decanter publishing director Sarah Kemp said China’s continuing success at the DWWA ‘yet again confirms that it is a country to watch. We are just beginning to see a glimpse of its potential.’
Tastings director Christelle Guibert said, ‘It’s great to see so many rarely-seen wine-producing countries do so well at this year’s DWWA, often faring much better than more established countries and famous regions. It just goes to show how far the quality of wine has come in countries that, like the UK, were once considered to be on the fringes of wine production.’
With 14,119 wines tasted 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards is the largest entry ever for the Decanter World Wine Awards, now in its 9th year. A number of other unusual winemaking countries fared particularly well this year. Turkey saw 83% of its wines receive an award, Slovenia achieved 77% and Croatia 63%.
