There are many wine writers and wine competitions throughout the world, all of them rate wines by scores out of 10, 20 or 100 or by awarding stars or medals. These medals are given by experts of wine who taste the product using a blind tasting method. The results of the tasting determine which wines are judged as being of particularly high quality. The Gold Medal Wines have been declared by the panel to be particularly good examples of wine using the grape and from the area they have been produced in.

One of the foremost of these competitions is the International Wine Challenge, which is an annual competition held in London. No less than 9,300 wines from 35 countries were reviewed in 2007, judged by a panel of 400 experts from 19 countries and the resulting winners are awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. A total of 260 gold medals were awarded in 2007 (representing 2.8% of entries). 1,129 wines won silver medals (12.1 per cent) and bronze medals were awarded to 1,839 wines. Other prestigious competitions are held in Macon, Paris, Brussels and Vienna. If you think you prefer the same tastes and flavour components as the experts, why not use the guide of medal winners to guide your decision.

But where can you get your hands on bottles of Gold Medal winning quality?

One of the best ways of picking up a gold medal wine is to look for it online. Independent online retailers are able to buy directly from smaller wine producers and are therefore able to get their hands on more sought after vintages and fine wines.

But just because it has a Gold Medal does not mean that it has to cost the Earth. Some medal winners come in at about £6 a bottle. A great deal on a wine that comes recommended by impartial experts.

Using an online wine retailer means that you will be able to spot the gold medal wines immediately – there is a section on the pages telling you what awards the wine has won – something to look out for is that some of the wines have won more than once. Surely if a wine can win more than one competition you have to be onto a good thing.

But remember the golden rule of wine, just because it has won copious awards doesn’t mean you will like it, if it is a style of wine that doesn’t suit your tongue. Stick to types of wine you usually like and then look for the ones which have won medals. That way you know you will like it and you never know, it might just blow you away with its fantastic taste and smell – there’s something really special about the unique subtleties of medal winning wines.

Why not take a look at the gold medal wines available from an independent online retailer? For more information on competition winners and Gold Medal wines go to Laithwaites.

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Fiona Muller has been writing for over 20 years. She is a qualified journalist and has worked in food and drink writing for the last few years. For more information Visit - www.laithwaites.co.uk