What Do Wine Awards Actually Mean? Inside Prima Pavé’s 45+ Medals
Before a wine earns a medal, its identity is often stripped away. The bottle disappears, the label is concealed, and judges are left with a glass of wine and their own expertise.
What happens next depends on the competition. Some focus on sensory quality, while others consider food pairability, value, and suitability for restaurant wine lists. Even the meaning of Gold can change from one awards program to another.
Prima Pavé has earned more than 45 medals for its Italian non-alcoholic sparkling wines, including recognition from three major international competitions: the International Wine & Spirit Competition, the San Francisco International Wine Competition, and the Sommeliers Choice Awards.
Each has its own judging process, award standards, and perspective on what makes a wine exceptional. Here's how they work and the Prima Pavé wines they've recognized.
International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC)
The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an established international awards program that evaluates wines, spirits, and alternative drinks. Its Alternative Drinks awards include low- and no-alcohol wines, giving producers in this growing category a dedicated setting for professional evaluation.
How does the IWSC judge its wines?
The IWSC uses blind tasting, with drinks poured behind the scenes and presented in numbered glasses. Judges evaluate the contents without seeing the bottle or label.
Its panels bring together industry professionals with different areas of expertise. Judges taste together, discuss their impressions, and assess each entry according to the competition's standards. All Gold-awarded drinks are re-tasted by a member of the IWSC's independent Judging Committee for final approval.
The Alternative Drinks program is particularly interesting for non-alcoholic wine. Removing alcohol changes a wine's body, aromatic expression, and texture. A successful dealcoholized wine needs enough balance and structure to remain enjoyable without the alcohol that would ordinarily contribute to those qualities.
The IWSC's dedicated categories allow judges to evaluate these wines within a relevant competitive field, paying attention to the finished drink rather than the reputation of its producer.
San Francisco International Wine Competition (SFIWC)
Founded in 1980, the San Francisco International Wine Competition is one of the longest-established wine competitions in the United States. Organized by The Tasting Alliance, it brings together experienced wine professionals to evaluate entries from producers around the world.
Its judges include sommeliers, wine writers, educators, buyers, and other industry specialists.
How does the San Francisco International Wine Competition judge its wines?
The competition uses blind tasting, meaning judges know the category of wine they're evaluating but not its brand or producer.
Wines are tasted in flights, with judges assessing sensory qualities including aroma, flavor, structure, balance, and finish. For sparkling wines, the texture and integration of the bubbles also contribute to the overall impression.
The competition awards Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Double Gold medals.
One of its most distinctive rules concerns Double Gold. Unlike competitions that award Double Gold based on a numerical score alone, San Francisco requires unanimous agreement from the judging panel.
The competition also conducts additional judging to select wines for distinctions such as Best in Class and Best in Show.
A Gold medal from San Francisco reflects a wine's performance in a blind tasting conducted by experienced professionals, with further recognition reserved for wines that stand out during the judging process.
Sommeliers Choice Awards
The Sommeliers Choice Awards takes a slightly different approach to wine judging. Rather than concentrating exclusively on sensory quality, the competition evaluates wines with the restaurant and hospitality industry in mind.
Its judging panels include sommeliers, wine directors, and other on-premise wine professionals who regularly make decisions about which wines deserve a place on restaurant lists.
How do the Sommeliers Choice Awards judge their wines?
Wines are initially tasted blind for their sensory qualities, food pairability, and typicity. Judges then incorporate value and packaging assessments into the final evaluation.
Food pairability considers how versatile a wine is alongside different dishes. Typicity examines whether it expresses the expected characteristics of its grape variety or style. Quality covers its sensory performance, while value considers whether the wine delivers an appropriate experience for its price.
The Sommeliers Choice Awards uses a defined point system:
These ranges also illustrate why wine medals need context. A 90-point wine receives Gold at the Sommeliers Choice Awards, while that same score would fall within the Silver range at the Decanter World Wine Awards.
Beyond standard medals, Sommeliers Choice recognizes standout wines in specific categories, including non-alcoholic styles.
The Medal Is the Short Version
A wine award is a professional assessment made under a particular competition's rules. The judging panel, tasting format, scoring system, and category all help explain what that recognition represents.
For Prima Pavé, those different approaches have resulted in more than 45 medals across its Italian 0.0% sparkling wine collection, including Gold medals from San Francisco and a Best Non-Alcoholic Rosé of the Year title from the Sommeliers Choice Awards.
When choosing a bottle, the competition results offer a useful perspective. Your preferred style can guide the rest, whether that's the crisp elegance of Blanc de Blancs, the refreshing character of Rosé Brut, or the softer fruit notes of Rosé Dolce.
Explore Prima Pavé's collection of Italian 0.0% sparkling wines and find your next favorite pour.
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