Berliner Wine Trophy

The World's Largest OIV Wine Contest

The past results

Here you can check the award-winning wines

BWT - Awarded Wines

Special Awards

The best of the best

Learn more

Golden League

The League of Wine Champions

Learn more

Berliner Wine Trophy - World's Largest OIV Wine Competition

Since the patronage of the OIV in 2004, the Berliner Wine Trophy has become the world’s largest wine competition and Germany’s most important international wine challenge under the patronage of the OIV and the UIOE. BWT brings well-known producers and distributors from around the world together every year, and the number of samples submitted is steadily growing with almost 14,000 entries yearly (Winter and Summer edition).

Tasting:

8 – 17 October 2021

Instructions:

How to submit ►

Registration deadline:

6 September 2021

Fee per wine:

€ 135.00*

Delivery deadline:

10 September 2021

Patronage:

OIV, UIOE, VinoFed

International Judges

9816 +

Submitted Wines

in 2020

Entrant Countries

Top 10 advantages of our wine challenge

There are few wine contests worldwide that offer so many guarantees and services for each submitted wine. In our opinion, success lies in two words: added value. Nowadays it’s not enough just awarding a medal; We offer a complete offline and online marketing package to help promote the award-winning wines:

► Free medal in digital format in order to promote your award-winning wines.
► The winners will be featured on our website (with several thousand visits per month), in an exclusive area.
► Masked and cropped HD-photos of all the wines registered, available at your user account.
► The award-winning wines are promoted actively and passively, via social networks.
► The results are sent to the members of the jury with the aim of linking wine buyers and wine producers.
► We work hand in hand with our partners to highlight the winners against the competition.
► Presence of the winners in important fairs such as ProWein, thanks to the delivery of diplomas.
► High quality DIN-A3 size diplomas, with a gold (or silver) laminated medal, for all winners.
► Many important online platforms offer “packages” and “sets” using our medals as a commercial hook.
► The winning wines are present in our events in Asia, aimed at professionals in the sector.

"The competent and fair evaluation of the wines ensures that the award is a reliable indication of top quality in the bottle"

"The reliable quality declaration of the Berliner Wine Trophy brings together wine producers and wine lovers"

"The Berliner Wine Trophy meets the highest quality standards and is undoubtedly one of the toughest competitions on the wine scene"

"This tasting will provide consumers with useful guidance when buying wines so that they do not buy poor quality products"

"The Berliner Wine Trophy is an industry benchmark in terms of organization and management, and serves as a thermometer to measure the current state of the wine industry"

International Organisation Vine and Wine

International Union of Oenologists

World Federation of International Wine Competitions

An additional benefit for all medal winners

Our media partner WEIN+MARKT, the magazine for importers, buyers, wholesalers, and wine shops in Germany, offers all medal winners the opportunity to advertise their award-winning wines at a favorable price.

All award winners will receive a full advertising page for the price of half a page.
The only condition: The medal must be featured in the advertisement.

For the first time, the winners of the Berliner Wine Trophy will have the opportunity to present their excellent wines to potential trade customers and importers in Germany at very favorable conditions.

Take advantage of this opportunity. The wine sales of the trading companies in Germany have developed very positively in Corona times.

We face this challenge together

As in all areas worldwide, we too must adapt to the current situation. We must all face up to these challenges so that we do not endanger the health of individuals, but also so that we do not lose sight of the future of our companies.

We want to run the Berliner Wine Trophy because we have been asked to do so by many of our customers. Especially in these times, for most of them, it is important to be present on the market.

Additional measures

For us, the task was therefore to harmonise the legal requirements with the guidelines of the OIV, the UIOE, and VinoFed. And this to such a degree that the Berliner Wine Trophy will take place at the high-quality level that you are accustomed to as a submitter and as a jury member.

We have therefore decided to carry out our wine challenge taking into account the following measures:

• The tasting will be divided into 3 slots of 3-4 days each
• There is an ionized aerosol-purifying tunnel at the entrance to the premises
• Rapid tests are conducted to everyone involved in the event
• There will be a maximum number of persons per room, respecting the current regulations
• The tasting seats are individually protected with Plexiglas panels
• Per slot there will be a maximum of 20 jury groups on an area of almost 1,500 m², so that sufficient distance can be kept
• The jurors and thus the jury groups will alternate after each slot. It could happen that individual judges were present at several slots
• All other basic hygiene rules will also be respected (FFP2 mask, gloves, safe distance, etc)
• In addition to all the new measures, the standards of the Berliner Wine Trophy will, of course, remain unchanged and will, as always, be strictly monitored by multiple authorities (OIV, UIOE, VinoFed, Notary)

The tasting process will be streamlined by these measures, but its quality is in no way compromised. We are all delighted to be able to present the Berliner Wine Trophy to you in this particular way and look forward to presenting the wines to the expert jury.

New standards in the wine scene

This past year, the Berliner Wine Trophy has set once again new standards with over 13,600 wine samples submitted. Due to the limited contingent of places, many submissions could not be accepted by the end of the registration period. In the last Winter Edition, almost 2,000 participants from 40 countries have registered their products. Also, submitters from countries with little tradition of viticulture are among the participants, which demonstrates the high international reputation of the Berliner Wine Trophy.

In cooperation with the corresponding committees, the maximum number of submissions for the Berliner Wine Trophy has been limited to 7,000 per event. Unfortunately, if this self-imposed limit was exceeded, as on previous occasions, we will have to close the registration period before the established deadline.

For us, DWM – Deutsche Wein Marketing, this limitation is a logical step in the quality approach with which we operate and that we implement in all areas of work. With the patronage of the OIV and the UIOE (and the strict controls that this entails), with the notarial supervision, the oenological analyzes of the awarded wines, and much more, we and all the members of the jury are ready to give the submitted products all the appreciation they deserve.

At the same time, this measure prevents an inflationary increase of award-winning wines with the Berliner Wine Trophy medal. It has always been something special to receive this award, and it should remain so. Therefore, participants should not wait until the last moment but submit the wines as soon as possible.

Tasting the wines

The Berliner Wine Trophy is held twice a year, with the Summer Edition and the Winter Edition, to suit the different events that take place throughout the year (the harvest, the strong sales months, etc). This is a brief summary of some important steps in the process of organizing one of the most important wine competitions in the world.

Receiving the wines

In our facilities in Berlin, our logistics staff receive hundreds of wines a day during the months prior to the tasting. They unpack, identify and check that the samples match the data provided in the “sample passport” and in our system. Only then is an internal code assigned that will serve to pinpoint and locate the sample at a later stage.

Storage of the wines

Bottles from all corners of the world participate in our wine challenges, which sometimes involves long and hectic transports. Therefore, the wines will be stored in a vertical position to ensure that any possible sediments are deposited at the bottom. There are different rooms for each category of wine, all of them with the corresponding light and temperature to ensure the best possible environment for the samples.

High quality picture of each wine

Thanks to our service WineShoot, all the wines received are photographed in high quality and even in 360°. The images are available to the participants free of charge, and they will be able to use them on their respective websites, social networks, magazines, etc. to promote their wines. The pictures will also be used to illustrate the award-winning wines on our results page.

Creating the "Flights"

The management team, in close collaboration with the experts of the OIV, the UIOE and the VINOFED, organizes and groups the “Flights” taking into account the characteristics of the wines. In this way, the tasting conditions are fair for all wines as the jurors will not be negatively affected by aspects such as variety, acidity, residual sugar and alcohol content.

The tasting days

Each evening, our workers prepare the Flights for the next day. On the busiest days, this used to mean more than 120 Flights consisting of up to 17 wines each! For several days, the wines will be tasted by an independent panel of experts consisting of oenologists, sommeliers, masters of wine, experienced traders, winegrowers, journalists, etc. The products will be rated according to the regulations and guidelines of OIV and UIOE, using the 100-point score system (blind tasting). That includes categories such as red wine, white wine, rosé wine, rotling, orange wine, vinho verde, sparkling wine (champagne, cava, prosecco, sekt, espumante, etc.), liquor / fortified wine (port, madeira, sherry, málaga, marsala, etc.) and more.

Fairness and rigourousness:

It must be said that the jurors do not know whether a wine will finally receive a medal or not, due to circumstances such as the “30% rule”. It is therefore impossible for them to influence the final results in any way. Both the team of notaries and the observers from the different entities, such as the OIV, watch to ensure that there are no irregularities at any stage of the process.

After the tasting

Quality is the most important element for us. The Berliner Wine Trophy was the first in the industry to introduce, among other things, the oenological analyses of the awarded wines and the notarial supervision. In contrast to other wine competitions, only the best 30% of the products tasted are finally awarded a medal (according to OIV standards). This does not reduce the value of the rest of the products, but it does accentuate the prestige of the medal and the great honor that it represents to receive it.

Berliner Wine Trophy - Special Awards

The Special Awards are only awarded in the Winter Edition of Berliner Wine Trophy. In order for the results of the Summer Edition to take effect in the rating of Special Awards, the medals of the awarded products in the Summer Trophy will be included in next year’s Special Award evaluation. If a wine wins a medal in both Wine Trophies (Summer Edition and next year’s Winter Edition), only the one of higher value will be taken into consideration for the evaluation of Special Awards.

Categories and Requirements

Below you will find the main categories and conditions that apply to Special Awards:

Best Producer

• Best Producer “still wine” in a country:
– at least 3 gold medals

• Best Producer “sparkling wine” in a country:
– at least 3 gold medals

Best Cooperative

• Best Cooperative in a country:
– at least 5 gold medals

Best Importer

• Best Importer in a country:
– at least 6 gold medals from 3 different producers

• Best Importer of Berliner Wein Trophy:
– at least 12 gold medals from at least 6 different countries 8 different producers

Best Specialist Trader

• Best Specialist Trader in a country:
– at least 6 gold medals from 3 different producers

• Best Specialist Trader International:
– at least 12 gold medals from at least 6 different countries 8 different producers

• Best Specialist Trader Online:
– at least 12 gold medals from at least 6 different countries 8 different producers

Best Discounter

• Best Discounter:
– at least 12 gold medals from at least 6 different countries 8 different producers