Participating Companies usually never disclose the number of samples entered in a competition,   giving an edge to the bigger participating wineries like Sula and Fratelli, though the cost of samples including air shipments can be a big factor too. Decanter disclosed this time that 41 samples were submitted this year by India with 23 of them scoring a goal (not gold!!)- a.56 % success rate.

Sula has won 4 of the 6 Silver Medals while the other 2 have gone to Chandon which has been winning Silvers for several years. Fratelli won 4 Bronzes, even as Sula’s neighbor Soma Vine Vineyards bagged 3 Bronze medals.  Myne has debuted with a Bronze for its Shiraz- Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.

India has performed better than last year’s 18 medals though it had the same number of 6 Silver medals.

Also Read : Chandon records best Result at Decanter Wine Awards with 100% strike rate

The competition awards a Gold for 95+ points and a Silver for 90+. C for Commendation is really a consolation prize to wipe your tears and Gold is the real thing (conceptually).  Having participated in over 70 international competitions, I can safely say that at 89 and 94 points generally entail longer discussions among the jury panelists whether the wine deserves a better medal and C is practically thrown in for a border case.  Apparently, the panels did not think the wines with 89 points did not deserve the coveted Gold.

It seems a bit disappointing to see Fratelli Z’ Noon ’23 getting a low Bronze (86) but doubly disappointing to see Sette 2023 also scoring 86 and barely getting the Bronze as it has won more than one Gold medal in other competitions. I have not tasted the 2023 edition yet but it also depends on the personal choice of the jury panel and one has to accept the score to be true but the score also represents the mood and disposition of the panel at that point of time which usually does a very professional job to the best of its capability.

Also Read : DWWA 2023: No Gold but 8 Medals for India at Decanter Awards

Another interesting result has been Chandon 2015 (10th anniversary edition) getting a Bronze.  Generally, sparkling wines and Champagnes are NV (non-vintage), But a 10 year old bubbly winning a Bronze from Nashik certainly deserves a few claps and shouts of ‘Bravo.’

Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) are held annually in London and are the biggest and one of the most recognised international wine Competitions globally. It has Platinum (Rare), Gold, Silver, Bronze and Commended (consolation prize really) and a few Best in Show Trophies. India usually figures in the Silver and Bronze categories- it used to get many C’s but had graduated to Silver and Bronze for many years.

Also Read : Insipid Performance by Indian Wines at Decanter World Wine Awards

This is one competition in which it does not seem to have won a Gold yet. The Award is usually awarded to the wines scoring 90/100 or above. Fratelli Grand Cru Brut and J’Noon did come very close to a Silver with 89 points in their pocket. Hopefully, we are getting very close to the Summit (delWine considers Gold is a solid label for its wines in the global context. Of course, India has already cracked Gold in competitions like IWC (London) and MundusVini (Germany).

For details of year-wise Results, Click HERE

A total of 13789 wines have been Awarded. As in most competitions, leading countries in terms of total medal wins (Including Platinum {97+ points) and Best in Show medals are France (3220) followed by Italy{2204) and Spain (2025)   Top 15 countries have cornered appx over 11,000 medals.  This makes DWWA the biggest competition in the world.

For detailed analysis, visit

Also Read : Decanter WW Awards: Gold eludes India at the ‘Wine Olympics’

Subhash Arora