Highlights – DWWA 2019 Judging and Platinum week

Decanter's managing director began DWWA judging week by welcoming and thanking all judges new and old.

All 16,500+ wines were kept in the warehouse during judging week before they were taken to their respective panels for tasting.

The 2019 DWWA Co-Chairs, who were responsible for overseeing the competition were Michael Hill Smith MW, Andrew Jefford and Sarah Jane Evans MW.

Before the wines were taken into the room where they were judged, Decanter staff covered the bottles in a white bags to prevent the Judges from recognising any labels or branding.

Judging was organised by region, with each panel judged by experts in that region.

Judges were told the region, style and price bracket of the flight of wines they were tasting. After tasting the wines individually they then compared notes and reached a consensus on each wine’s medal.

Jeannie Cho Lee MW joined the DWWA team as Regional Chair for Burgundy at this year's competition.

Gold medal-winning wines went on to be re-categorised by grape or style and re-tasted by a panel consisting of Regional Chairs and Co-Chairs and if deserving awarded a Platinum or Best in Show.

The DWWA warehouse team were in charge of organising the wines, keeping them in a good condition as well as opening and bagging the bottles before they were delivered to the panels for tasting.

Runners were located in all the panel rooms to assist in pouring the wines.