Decanter magazine August 2026 issue: See what's inside

Welcome to Decanter magazine’s August 2026 issue

DWWA 2026: The wine-world showcase

Leader by Simon Wright, Head of Awards

We are thrilled to share the results of the 23rd Decanter World Wine Awards.

Holding the world’s largest wine competition gives us – and all our judges and Chairs – an incredible wide-angle snapshot of the current wine landscape. It helps us to pinpoint – and share with you – the exceptional producers and exciting regions redefining the wines we’re able to drink today.

Simon Wright, Decanter awards — Simon Wright, Head of Awards

After 10 years overseeing the logistics side of the competition, this was my first year as Head of Awards. My new role gives me the opportunity to take a step back and gain a unique perspective on how Decanter’s various teams – from Events & Awards to Marketing, Sales and Editorial – collaborate on such a monumental operation.

From opening for entries in November right through to printing the bumper results issue that you hold in your hands now, immense care and craft are poured into what we all do.

On that theme of care and craft, the rigour and strength of the DWWA competition truly rests with our judges. We’re incredibly happy with the steps we took this year to reduce the average number of wines tasted daily (now no more than 75) by each panel. Giving our experts more time to focus on every tasting flight ensures you can have absolute confidence in the calibre of the wines featured in the pages that follow.

Indeed, in his introduction to this year’s results, Co-Chair Andrew Jefford emphasises the ‘uplift in the quality of entries overall’ seen by the judges, and highlights the final figures that reveal a notable increase in the proportion of Silver, Gold and Platinum awards achieved at DWWA 2026.

I hope you enjoy getting to know the diverse, exceptionally talented individuals who make up our judging panels, just as much as you enjoy exploring the delicious and deservedly awarded wines. Cheers!

Contents list: Inside Decanter magazine’s August 2026 issue

DWWA: Setting the scene

Andrew Jefford The DWWA Co-Chair reflects on highlights and surprises of the competition in 2026
This year in numbers A breakdown of medal winners in 2026, plus intel on this year’s 245 expert judges
The judging process Discover how we conduct the tastings and choose the medal-winning wines, with an at-a-glance guide to the key stages of the competition
Behind the scenes When not hard at work, our DWWA judges had a chance to taste other Golds (blind), to attend a special Coravin masterclass and to kick back and relax at the midweek party
Meet the experts Introducing the talent behind the world’s biggest wine competition: our four Co-Chairs (plus Resident Co-Chair) and 37 Regional Chairs. We also list the judges and Senior Judges for each region

DWWA: The results

Best in Show: wine profiles Full tasting notes, by Andrew Jefford, for the 50 wines from around the world that took top honours in 2026

The Platinum medal-winners We present the 196 wines judged to be the best in their respective regions

The Gold medal-winners The 924 Golds, listed alphabetically by region (Silver and Bronze winners can be found on Decanter.com)
35 Top Value Golds We highlight the Gold medal winners judged to offer the very best value, all priced at under £15 at the time of judging in May 2026
Best in Show, again! We celebrate the six producers who’ve won Best in Show this year – for the second time in five years, for the same wine

UK shopper’s guide Your handy list of medal winners available on UK shelves

Collecting & investing

Marketwatch Auction news and new releases
Marketwatch The rise of white Burgundy

Regulars

News The latest from the wine world

The brief Ideas and inspiration

Subscribe to Decanter
On the rack: Ronan Sayburn MS The sommelier and DWWA Co-Chair talks to Amy Wislocki

DWWA 2026 Gold medals by region

Alsace 100
Argentina 101
Asia 105
Australia 106
Austria 112
Balkans 113
Beaujolais 114
Belgium 112
Bordeaux 115
Bosnia and Herzegovina 113
Brazil 104
Bulgaria 120
Burgundy 116
Canada 118
Caucasus Regions 119
Central & Eastern Europe 120
Central Italy 123
Champagne 124
Chile 127
China 105
Croatia 128
Czech Republic 120
Georgia 119
Germany 131
Greece & Cyprus 132
Hungary 120
Israel 152
Japan 106
Languedoc-Roussillon 134
Loire 136
Moldova 122
Montenegro 113
New Zealand 137
Northern Italy 139
North Macedonia 113
Piedmont 141
Port & Madeira 142
Portugal 144
Provence 146
Romania 122
Rhône 148
Serbia 113
Sherry 149
Slovenia 129
South Africa 150
Southern & Eastern Mediterranean 152
Southern Italy 153
Southwest & rest of France 154
Spain 155
Switzerland 162
Turkey 152
Tuscany 163
United Kingdom 165
Uruguay 104
USA & Mexico 166
Veneto 169

How to read the DWWA results

Wines are grouped into colour and/or type, in the order one might drink them with a meal: Sparkling, White, Rosé, Orange, Red, Sweet & Fortified.

Wines are identified by these colours: green (white wines), pink (rosés), orange (orange/amber wines), red (reds), golden (all sweet & fortified).

Within the Sparkling sections of each region, wines appear in colour order: white, rosé then red if applicable.

Profiles and tasting notes for all 50 Best in Show winners (the best of this year’s Platinum award winners) are listed from p37, with tasting notes for the Platinum winners (best of the Golds) from p61.

Within these categories, wines are listed by score, then alphabetically by producer name. From p99, we list the Gold medal winners by region. The Value and Top Value Gold wines are denoted by a V or G symbol within the listings; Top 35 Value Golds are also listed in one place, from p170.

Stockist and pricing details for Best in Show, Platinum and Gold medal-winning wines have been supplied by the producer, UK importer or submitter responsible for entering the wine.

We check these as carefully as possible, but cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information provided. If no GBP price is shown, then there were no UK stockist listings found at the time of writing.