Merchants of the Year 2025
The merchants who enter the Sommelier Wine Awards are the lifeblood of this competition and this year’s batch stood the UK trade proud, revealing both the quality and breadth of wines out there for the on-trade, with more than enough to satisfy wine lists of every shape and size. As ever, there were a few that stood out from the crowd and these special awards honour those wine merchants that went home with a significant medal haul this year.
LARGE MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: HALLGARTEN & NOVUM WINES
Shortlist: Alliance/Matthew Clark Bibendum
The ever-innovative Hallgarten & Novum Wines excelled this year, claiming the largest share of Gold medals among entrants at 33, receiving a total of 172 medals, the majority of which were at Silver and Gold level. And this importer topped those achievements by bagging a majority of top slots with Trophy-winning wines.
Those Trophy wins included Overall Wine of the Year with Lake Chalice Pinot Plume 2019 from Marlborough, and Popular Pick Red of the Year with Kuzubag Öküzgözü 2021 from Denizli in Aegean Turkey.
In addition, Hallgarten showed a spread of medals from across winemaking regions such as USA, France, Italy and Spain, as well as Macedonia, Turkey, Greece and Georgia. But it’s overwhelming strength was drawn from its Italian portfolio, with a strong showing from across the north of the country, ranging from Piedmont to Alto Adige.
Large, clearly, can be beautiful when it comes to wine portfolios, with all the evidence here being that quality can be maintained across an incredible diversity of wines from around the world, with something on offer for everyone. And as the further results below also testify, Hallgarten & Novum Wines is at the top of its game.
SMALL MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: HATCH MANSFIELD
Shortlist: González Byass/Vinfinity
This smart agent-importer picked up the most medals among those shortlisted for this Award category, with a majority of the medals coming from their French entries. Among these stars, there was an incredible standout performer, which took the hugely popular form of a Moulin-à-Vent Clos de Rochegrès 2020, which not only picked up Gold but also received commendations with Critics’ Choice, By the Glass and Pub & Bar medals.
Australia and the US also showed well here, showing the global flavour of Hatch’s portfolio, with one producer, Oregon’s Résonance, providing two medal-winning Pinot Noirs. Cherubino from Western Australia also added its own Ad Hoc Cruel Mistress Pinot Noir 2023 to the medal winners, along with its Pedestal Chardonnay, with the latter being described by Amazonico’s Jaewon Jeong as being a “great expression of tropical notes with typicity of oaky Chardonnay and a good balance”.
Balance, of course, is key in those wines that manage to place high in the Sommelier Wine Awards, with all the approachability and food-friendly characteristics that implies, with many of Hatch Mansfield’s entries delivering in spades.
NEW WORLD MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: HALLGARTEN & NOVUM WINES
Shortlist: Alliance Wine/Liberty Wines
Again, Hallgarten came out on top here with the most Gold medals in this category, counting 11 in total, crowned by Trophy winners such as Overall wine of Year, Lake Chalice Pinot Plume 2019 from Marlborough; and White Fine Wine of the Year, Delaire Graff Chardonnay Banghoek 2022 from Stellenbosch.
In fact, South African and New Zealand wines made up the majority of Hallgarten’s New World Golds this year, sharing 60% between them, showing the high quality bar set by both these popular producing countries. Meanwhile, the Americas offering was dominated by the northern hemisphere, with over half the medals coming from California.
However, Chile somewhat bucked that bias, delivering a strong supporting act that included the Gold-winning Vina Vik, Carmenère, Omega 2022, described by Daniele Di Blasio of Bulgari Hotel Group as being “full bodied with a silky texture, refined tannins and excellent length; a complex blend of power and elegance”.
CLASSIC REGIONS MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: MATTHEW CLARK BIBENDUM
Shortlist: Hallgarten Wines / Alliance Wine
Wine powerhouses Matthew Clark and Bibendum picked up the most medals overall in this category by quite some margin, together showing an outstanding batch of French wines including the Trophy winning Rose of the Year, Côtes de Provence Rosé, Héritage, Estandon 2024.
Some 45% of Matthew Clark Bibendum wines were from France, although the Golds bagged here came from a range of countries, including Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy, plus a big win with Fortified Wine of The Year Emilio Lustau, La Ina Fino from Jerez.
The Italian producers rose to the challenge too, showing well with four out of the five Golds achieved, also receiving the Critics Choice medal.
One typical standout wine, for Natasha Senina of Chewton Glen, was the Rocca di Frassinello 2019 from Maremma in Toscana, which she enthusiastically billed as having, “'A rich ruby hue and inviting aromas of ripe cherries, juicy blackberries and layers of exotic spices, with a herbal hint, smooth tannins, and an elegant mouthfeel”.
FINE WINE MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: HALLGARTEN & NOVUM WINES
Shortlist: Liberty Wines/Matthew Clark Bibendum
With seven Trophy winners in the Fine Wine category – the most of any merchant – Hallgarten & Novum Wines’ mighty array of entries struck again, with those upper-crust gongs going to all corners of the world, folding in New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, England, Italy, Turkey and Champagne.
The Golds, however, presented a somewhat different geographical picture, with almost half those winning wines coming from Italy, correlating with the strength of Italy witnessed in Hallgarten’s achieving the Large Wine Merchant of the Year award above.
This merchant additionally picked up some 14 Critics’ Choice awards from wines that fell into the Fine Wine category. Moreover, regions of interest such as Greece were among those winners, with Gaia Wines Assyrtiko Ammonite 2022 hinting at how the concept of ‘fine wine’ is spreading out to relative newcomers to the category around the globe.
VALUE MERCHANT OF THE YEAR
WINNER: LWC
Shortlist: Hatch Mansfield/The Society of Vintners
A clear winner in this field, LWC took this award last year and held onto its crown, for an array of wines that were deemed to be of true value for the price, helping hard-pressed on-trade operators protect their wafer-thin margins.
Heading the gallery was a Trophy win for House White, a Villa Blanche Picpoul de Pinet 2023 coming in at just £9.89, and which, incidentally, bagged the same award last year.
The rest of France did well too, with 11 medals in the bag, narrowly pipping Spain, which delivered 10, with seven out of those medals being awarded to Riojas.
Beyond these best-performing countries for LWC, other regions that delivered on value were Italy, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Australia, plus a Romanian wine from the innovative Cramele Recaş estate in the country’s west. That wine, a Calusari Reserva Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Fetească Neagră 2021 blend, was simply described by Yuri Gualeni of Louie London as follows: “Rich and plummy. This wine delivers.”