IWC Awards 2023: New categories and sustainability take centre stage

By James Lawrence

Published: 04 July, 2023

Members of the UK trade assembled at London’s Hurlingham Club in Fulham this evening (July 4), as the winners of the 2023 International Wine Challenge (IWC) awards were announced in glamorous style.

This year's event covered a wide remit, including champion wines, champion winemakers, great value champions, best Sake and top UK wine businesses. There was also a new Unsung Specialist of the Year award, giving due recognition to retailers embracing the esoteric and lesser-known. The lucky recipient was Novel Wines, a unique online wine merchant that specialises in undiscovered wines from around the world. Meanwhile, Liberty and Majestic Wine scooped up the Agent of the Year and Buying Team of the Year awards respectively.

Majestic also won the Rosé Retailer category, sponsored by Maison Castel. The judges liked Majestic’s winning combination of “good quality exclusive brands, strong merchandising and knowledgeable staff”. Congratulations also to Cambridge Wine Merchants (Small Multiple Retailer of the Year), The Wine Society (Online Retailer of the Year) and Alliance Wine – winner of the Spanish & Portuguese Specialist of the Year award.

Read more: Harpers' Top 25 Sommeliers 2023 announced

This year’s Supermarket of the Year was Tesco, while Viña Undurraga’s winemaker, Rafael Urrejola, was named Red Winemaker of the Year. Businesses that demonstrated a sincere commitment to sustainable practices also swept the board.

In winning the On-Trade Wine Supplier of the Year category, Hallgarten & Novum Wines was praised for having sustainability as “a big part of its DNA”. The IWC judges were also impressed by the company’s 27% growth year on year, “especially in the current climate”, and its exceptional range of wines. Naked Wines, this year’s winner of the Wine Club of the Year award, was praised for its exceptional customer service and engagement, and for truly listening to customers and reacting accordingly.

The judges also commented: “Great to see what Naked has done so far regarding sustainability such as lightweight bottles, introducing the Green Grape logo as well as topless wines.”

The full results are available to view here, as well as part of Harpers' July issue.

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