Published by TI Media Limited The world’s best wine magazine. It is simply the “wine bible”. Every month it provides recommendations on the world’s finest wines and tells you where you can find them. From top Bordeaux to the best value wine on the shelf, Decanter guides you through a maze of wine to help you find the right wine for you. It also offers interviews with leading wine personalities, in-depth guides to the wine regions and the latest wine news.
DWWA 2026 The wine-world showcase
Decanter
News • A snapshot of what’s happening in the world of wine
The brief • Ideas and inspiration for wine lovers, every month
An uplifting experience • Despite (or perhaps because of ) the headwinds buffeting the wine industry, this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards saw a dramatic uptick in quality. Our awards Co-Chair and Decanter Contributing Editor runs his analytical eye over this year’s results, highlights and revelations
This year in numbers • Every spring, our Regional Chairs and judges painstakingly taste, assess, discuss and award the wines put before them. Here’s how the 2026 judging season panned out…
The judging process
Behind the scenes at DWWA judging week
Meet the experts • The annual Decanter World Wine Awards gathers a global assembly of the industry’s most distinguished authorities. The expertise of our Co-Chairs, Regional Chairs and dedicated judging panels remains the cornerstone of this competition’s enduring prestige
BEST IN SHOW WINNING WINES • At the final round of tasting, a panel comprising all five Co-Chairs retasted all Platinum medal winners earmarked as Potential Best in Show. The pinnacle of this year’s competition: 50 exceptional wines crowned DWWA Best in Show for 2026, representing just 0.3% of all wines tasted
PLATINUM WINNING WINES • Platinum medal-winners in the DWWA have triumphed in multiple stages of judging by different panels, and been endorsed after reassessment by our Co-Chairs. In 2026, this status was achieved by 196 wines of impeccable quality, presented in the pages that follow
GOLD WINNING WINES • This year’s judging revealed an exceptional standard of quality across every category, with our panels awarding a bumper 924 Gold medals. That figure includes 35 Top Value winners (see p170), and represents just 5.56% of all wines tasted in the competition. We are delighted to present all 924 Golds in the following pages
35 Top Value Golds Outstanding wines at under £15 a bottle
Best in Show, again! • A spotlight on the six producers from around the world who’ve won our top award this year for the second time in five years – with the same wine
UK shopper’s guide • Here we present a fantastic selection of 2026 DWWA medal-winning wines from the UK’s leading high street merchants and supermarkets
Market watch • News from the world of investments and auctions
Ronan Sayburn MS • The renowned sommelier on finishing off Paul McCartney’s bottle of Dujac Charmes-Chambertin and drinking DRC sediment with Aubert de Villaine