PURPOSE

  • Select the best wines for the Korean palate and introduce great wines
  • Expanding distribution of award-winning wines for quality and value to the Korean wine market
  • Establishing a bridgehead for overseas wineries to enter the Korean wine market

HOSTED BY

Monthly magazine specializing in wine

KWC selects the best wines for the Korean palate

In its 20th year, KWC has firmly established itself as Korea’s most influential wine competition. KWC aims to select wines whose quality and value have been recognized by Korean juries composed only of incumbent leading sommeliers and to inform Korean consumers of the results. Wine Review, the only magazine in Korea promoting wines online and offline, hosts this event.

All wines will be 100% blind tasting with no price or producer information provided. Wine Review will appropriately manage each wine’s service temperature and air exposure at the judges’ tasting time. Korean consumers trust KWC’s results with respect for its judging process and world-class judges. Therefore, passing through the preliminaries and finals and winning the competition means that the wine suits Koreans’ palates. Wines already distributed in Korea are eligible to participate in this competition, and wines from overseas wineries are planning to export to Korea.

KWC 2024 entries are open from 18 March to 14 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 16, 2024, eight days before the preliminary round. All screening results are announced on the KWC official website, allowing importers and wine consumers to search for award-winning wines easily. When participants log in on the official website, they will be able to check their application process 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. Whenever a wine with a different opinion appears, the leader leads a free discussion atmosphere and mediates the 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 (97 points or more).

One of the essential purposes of the KWC 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 matches the intention of overseas wineries that exhibit their wines abroad to promote their wines in
Korea. Winning a prize at KWC gives the great meaning as ‘an attractive wine that suits the tastes of Korean consumers’. I am sure that through KWC 2024, new wines that appeal to Koreans will be effectively promoted, and a good opportunity to be consumed by Koreans will be created. We look forward to participating in KWC again this year to further grow in the Korean wine market.