If you’re going beyond even page two of the Google search results looking for the best wine at the best quality and price, you’ll stumble upon one which might catch your eye. It’s got a fancy bottle (always a good start), customer reviews are positive and then you see it’s also won an award. Oooh, an award. Like the Oscars or Crufts. Well, almost. We generally trust our instinct and will buy the thing because like David Attenborough or Omega 3, we trust them.

But here’s the thing: should we? Sure, it’s an award-winning wine, but what did it do to steal the show?

Herein lies the problem.

First of all beware the reliability of the contest. If juries were always made up of consumers, there would almost certainly be fewer medals. Every year, new competitions are organised, many of which are by winemakers, for winemakers, which can sometimes lack objectivity.

So, first question to ask: who gives the awards?

An award is always a good selling point, but loads of wines don’t have prestigious awards and do just fine.

Little things give away the game a bit:

- Awards must be given out.

There are quotas for the number of awards that must be given. In France it’s forbidden to give more than a third of the wines awards, but that still means 25% of all wines that leave with a gong every time.

- Winemakers have to pay to to be judged.

To participate in certain competitions can cost €180 and some even have to pay for that little sticker on the bottle. Don’t go peeling that expensive little label - it cost some of them more than the bottle itself! 

- Not all judges are pros.

Some contests require more than 2000 judges. Are all 2000 qualified experts? Possibly not. According to our Master Sommelier Jean-Michel Deluc, the most serious competition is the Vinalies Internationales (an oenologist competition) and to a lesser extent the General Agricultural Competition in Paris.

As with a lot of things, you just have to see for yourself.

All that glisters is not gold, as Shakespeare famously wrote, and the best person to judge is you. Taste wines regardless of their status at awards ceremonies and see if they win you over.

Browse our Bottle Shop to discover unique wines our sommelier has selected.

Le Petit Ballon, c’est chaque mois :
  • 2 bouteilles de vin finement sélectionnées par l'ancien Chef Sommelier du Ritz
  • Des conseils et astuces pour tout savoir sur les vins
  • Découvrez de nouveaux vins tous les mois
Je m’abonne