For the wine buyer confronted by shelves of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and chenin blanc, they provide an invaluable guide to the supposed best buys. But the awards displayed in shops lauding their wines often do little more than dupe the customer, experts say.

The medals handed out in their thousands every year are a money-making ploy for the industry, according to a leading oenophile.

Martin Isark, a wine taster and writer, told The Times yesterday that wine competition gongs were being used to sell unsold stocks of “plonk”, while the best vintages do not allow their labels to be tainted by such industry baubles.

Several of the top wine competitions hand out several thousand types of award, rendering most accolades absolutely worthless, he said, adding that his view was shared by many experts. He said: “Who is benefiting from these awards? It has to be the wine houses who clear their stock, the supermarkets who can drum up sales from promotions, and the companies which organise the competition. I am not convinced the consumer gets anything out of it.”

Mr Isark says that wine houses, supermarkets, agents, wholsalers and importers will pay from £75 to £120 to enter a bottle into a competition, knowing that the odds are strong they will pick up a gong.

To support his case he examined two leading British competitions: the International Wine Challenge, organised by William Reed Publishing, which produces leading food and drink magazines, and the Decanter World Wine Awards, organised by IPC magazines.

This year there were some 9,081 entres for the international challenge, of which 5,792 won a prize. The competition entrance-fee is a small price for an award that can be used to boost sales. Awards are mentioned on labels or used in sales promotions in supermarket and off-licences.

Similarly there were 6,300 entries for the Decanter awards this year — and 3,645 picked up an award.

Shoppers are attracted to the prizewinners and when Tesco won the best non-vintage champagne category at last year’s international challenge, for example sales rose 600 per cent.

But consumers may not realise that competitions are also money-spinners for the organisers. Mr Isark says: “Why do comeptitions give out so many medals? It is because it encourages wine houses, agents and retailers to enter their drinks and the more entries the more money for the organisers.

“But it is not likely to be any of the great wines or spirits on our retailers’ shelves, for these fine wines sell on their own merit and they need no help from a medal.”

He adds: “It is far more likely that a producer agent or retailer is stuck with 100,000 bottles in storage and decides on this wheeze to get them noticed.

“The marketing department will send bottles to every competition and it’s blindlingly obvious, with so many prizes on offer, the drinks stand a high chance of success. Once success is slapped on the bottles they start to sell.

“Apart from the entry fees, if a winner wishes to display a medal, he/she has to pay for that privilege too. It is a nice little earner — especially when you award thousands of medals and some winners produce tens of thousands of bottles.”

The awards were also confusing, he claims, because the same wine can win different grades in different competitions. If a wine is really good, it should consistently get the best marks. Mr Isark says: “My advice to consumers it to ignore these awards and medals and instead buy a boook or read a regular wine writer. Find someone who seems to share your tastes, at least then you have someone to blame.”

Rosemary George, Master of Wine, said the competitions should not be taken too seriously. “Tasting wine with a producer or in a different environment can and will result in different scores. It can be the difference between getting a medal or not, the wine and the tasters have their good and bad days.”

She accepted however that competitions gave good publicity to wine and prizes were a useful marketing tool, especially for new producers.

Tesco is proud of its prize-winning wines and boasts 150 with medals. A spokesman said: “Judging is scrupulously fair. We’re very proud of the quality of our wine range and it’s pleasing when others agree.”

Michael Florence, who organises the international challenge for William Reed, said: “Our entrants would strongly disagree with this view. We had over 9,000 this year and hope soon to top 12,000 entries. They are more than happy to pay an entry fee because success reaps such benefits. But the event is not just about medals — 30 per cent of entrants have no representation in the UK. This way we discover wines that are missing from the market.”

WINE PRIZES WHO WINS WHAT?

International Wine Challenge 2006

Entries 9,081
Trophies 76
Gold 289
Silver 1,065
Bronze 1,458
Seal Approval 2,904

Total Award Winners 5,792

(Organised by William Reed Publishing)

Decanter World Wine Awards 2006

Entries 6,300
Trophies 124
Gold 187
Silver 777
Bronze 1,525
Commended 1,232

Total Award Winners 3,845

(Organised by IPC Publishin)

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