KWC selects the best wines for the Korean palate

This year marked the 15th anniversary of Korea’s one and only International Wine Competition, known as the Korea Wine Challenge (KWC), hosted by the monthly magazine < Wine Review >. Under the slogan of ‘Selecting the best quality wines for the Korean palate to introduce the most trustworthy wines to customers,’ KWC has made dedicated efforts to develop the Korean wine market over the past 14 years. Domestically, KWC is considered an unparalleled platform for identifying global trends in the wine industry, while being one of the useful indicators for overseas wineries to consider when preparing to enter the Korean market. The judges for the KWC 2019 consisted of wine experts including practicing sommeliers working in close contact with the general public, and wine importers who actually import fine wines into Korea through carefully researching the preferences of the general population.

A total of 704 wines from 18 countries were exhibited at the KWC 2019. A surprise entry was made from countries such as Morocco, Moldova, Germany, Austria, Greece, Canada, and South Africa with their distinctive wines in the competition. Most of all, Portuguese wines were able to predict changes and growth in the domestic market, winning three gold medals in the Trophy Red, White and Best Country categories. In addition, the total number of entries this year has increased significantly compared to last year, and the participation of imported wine in Korea has increased significantly. As the most prestigious international wine conventions in Korea, KWC is one and only and reflects the reality of the wine market, leading the diversification of the domestic wine market.

Over the last two weeks, from Monday, June 10, through Thursday, June 20, all of the wines that participated in this competition were categorized according to country of origin, variety, blending ratio, oenology and price, as well as being evaluated through impartial and strictly monitored blind tasting. The competition adopted a 100-point scoring system in which a default score of 50 points was given to all wines entering the contest as a courtesy for the effort of sending a bottle of wine for the competition. The remaining 50 points were strictly and fairly evaluated by a select panel of judges in the following categories; 6 points for the ‘color and appearance’, 12 points for ‘aroma and bouquet’, 20 points for ‘flavor and finish’, and 12 points for ‘harmony and balance’. As this is a highly publicized international convention greeting its 15th anniversary, it was successfully completed because the criteria and regulations of the judges were more strictly enforced for fair judgement, and the judges paid more attention to the examination due to the higher quality of the wine compared with the previous year, as befits an internationally reputable competition whose global recognition has increased with every passing year of its 15-year history. 48 existing judging committee members who have participated in the previous KWC, and 11 new judges who won various prizes from various exhibitions were chosen and joined the KWC 2019. The inclusion of a variety of quality fine wines has raised the international reputation of the KWC to global status and opened wider opportunities for the Korean wine market. As for the KWC 2019’s awards, ‘Trophies’ were given to the best wines in seven different categories: Red, White, Sparkling, Rose, Sweet, Icewine, and Fortified. Additional awards, equally prestigious to a trophy, were bestowed on wines scoring over 94 points, including products from 11 countries. A total of 10 Best Reds and 1 Best White with the highest points were awarded among wines from nations with the highest number of entries this year. Best of Country awards went to Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and USA. This year, the best wines of each category were selected as winners, showing a more superior quality than any other year.

Those 10 Best Red wines contended with each other to clinch the one and only ‘Trophy’ red wine. From a total of 704 entries at the KWC 2019, the final tally of awards was 7 Trophies, 11 Best of Countries, 113 Gold Medals, 240 Silver Medals, and 63 Bronze Medals. These wines will hopefully serve as superb guides for Korean wine consumers, showing the way in selecting fine wines.

KWC JURY MEMBERS SINCE 2005