KWC selects the best wines for the Korean palate

In its 22nd year, KWC has firmly established itself as Korea’s most influential wine competition. Wine Review, the only wine magazine in Korea, hosts KWC.

In 2025, Wine Review celebrated its 25th anniversary, and there was a remarkable change in the presidency. Dr. Hoon Choi, the founder of IRE (Corporate body of Wine Review and KWC), retired, and Ms. Jeong Eun Choi, who was the Vice President of the company, became the new publisher and CEO of Wine Review and KWC, with a new company, Wine Review Corp. Ltd.

In 2025, for its 21st anniversary, KWC strengthened the judging system by appointing the chair of judges and senior judges and specifying the qualifications of panel judges. KWC aims to select wines whose quality and value have been recognized by Korean judges qualified and selected by these enhanced rules, and to inform Korean consumers of the results. Korean consumers trust KWC’s results, respecting its judging process and world-class judges. Therefore, passing through the preliminaries and finals and winning an award means that the wine suits Koreans’ palates. Wines already distributed in Korea and wines from overseas wineries planning to export to Korea can participate in this competition.

KWC 2026 entries are open from 3 March to 19 June. All wineries wishing to participate must submit an entry form and wine sample before the start of qualifying. The deadline for shipping the wine is June 19, 2026. All screening results are announced on the KWC official website, allowing importers and wine consumers to easily search for award-winning wines, and are also published in the Wine Review August issue. When participants log in to the official website, they can check their application status and award results on the ‘My account’ page.

All wines submitted to this competition are classified in advance based on type, country, region, and variety so that similar wines can be judged together.

All wines are 100% blind tasting with no price or producer information provided. KWC appropriately manages each wine’s service temperature and exposure to air for tasting.

To account for any discrepancies among judges, each judge tastes a wine as an initial calibration wine before starting judging. Whenever a wine with a different opinion appears, the chair and senior judges will foster a free discussion and mediate members’ disagreements.

Evaluation begins with a base score of 50 for entry, with 6 points for ‘color and appearance’ for each wine, 12 points for ‘aroma and bouquet’, 20 points for ‘taste and aftertaste’, and ‘harmony and balance’. 12 points are added together to give points to wines up to a total of 100 points. KWC’s ‘Trophy’, the highest award for each type of wine, is awarded in sixcategories: red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, rosé wine, sweet wine, and fortified wine. Among the wines from the 10 countries that exhibited the most during the year, ‘Best of Country’ will be awarded to wines with a high trophy-level score. And since 2025, KWC has begun awarding Best Importers.

One of the essential purposes of the KWC, as an International Wine Competition, is to widely recognize among Korean importers and distributors the wines whose quality and value have been proven through the event and ultimately realize distribution in the Korean market. This part aligns with the intention of overseas wineries that exhibit their wines abroad to promote them in Korea. Winning a prize at KWC gives great meaning as ‘an attractive wine that suits the tastes of Korean consumers. We are sure that through KWC 2026, new wines that appeal to Koreans will be effectively promoted, and a good opportunity for consumption will be created. We look forward to your participation in KWC this year and further growth in the Korean wine market.