Home News > September 2023 > The Sommelier Wine Awards are back!

The Sommelier Wine Awards are back!


We are delighted to announce that the leading wine competition for the on trade is back in business. Imbibe Live has teamed up with Agile Media in an exclusive agreement to bring back The Sommelier Wine Awards for 2024.

Launched in 2007, The Sommelier Wine Awards has built up an unrivalled reputation as the wine reference for sommeliers and on trade looking for quality and independently accredited wines to add to their wine list. The Sommelier Wine Awards are judged by industry respected sommeliers who understand what a wine needs to stand out on a wine list and keep customers coming back for more.

Shona Thomson, Event Manager from Imbibe Live says, “We’re thrilled to be working with Agile Media to bring back the mighty Sommelier Wine Awards. Combining Agile Media and Imbibe Live’s drinks industry expertise and working with the world’s top sommeliers, the SWA 2024 is set to be the most exciting one yet. We are delighted that the awards will stay true to their roots: on-trade only wines, assessed exclusively by on-trade judges, and we can’t wait to see which wines will feature in the Gold Book and in customer’s wine glasses.”

Lee Sharkey, Publisher and SWA Event Director at Agile Media added: “ We are very excited to be partnering with the Imbibe Live team to bring back the Sommelier Wine Awards. We have long respected this competition and now cannot wait to get to work on running the 2024 Awards.
“With our expertise in producing industry leading publications and tasting events for the drinks trade, we know we can work together with the brilliant team at Imbibe Live to make the Sommelier Wine Awards even bigger and better than before. Our key aim is to make sure that everything which made the Sommelier Wine Awards so special is respected and upheld. Please do get in touch if you are interested in entering your wines or, you are a sommelier keen to be considered as a judge, we would also be delighted to hear from you.”

The Sommelier Wine Awards will be open for entry from the beginning of September with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals being announced in April 2024 and Trophy winners in July 2024 to coincide with the Imbibe Live show and the publication of the Gold book which will include all the medal winners.
For more information, please contact:

Lee Sharkey, Agile Media Ltd, lee.sharkey@agilemedia.co.uk TEL: 01293 558 136
Shona Thomson, Imbibe Live, RX GLOBAL, shona.thomson@rxglobal.com TEL: 020 8910 7941

FURTHER INFORMATION
The Sommelier Wine Awards
The Sommelier Wine Awards is a wine competition with a difference. As the UK’s only on-trade wine competition, it focuses entirely on wines aimed at the on-trade. Wines with general distribution on the high street are not permitted to enter, except for sparkling and fortified wines, or merchants' online-exclusive wines. The Sommelier Wine Awards are judged by sommeliers for sommeliers.

Imbibe Live
Imbibe Live is the leading UK trade event for anyone who sources, buys or serves drinks in the licensed on- and off-trade. It takes place over 2 days at the beginning of July at Olympia London.

Agile Media Ltd
Agile Media is a dynamic, fast growing B2B drinks publishing, and events company based in Burgess Hill. Established in 2008, the company takes in print, digital, awards and tasting events in the UK and internationally, producing market leading titles Drinks International, CLASS, Harpers Wine & Spirit and Drinks Retailing. Agile Media Ltd already produces several tasting competitions and events including the International Spirits Challenge, CLASS Bar Awards, Specialist Importers Trade Tasting (SITT), International Beer Challenge, International Cider Challenge and the Drinks Retailing Awards.