English wines have achieved their best-ever performance at the International Wine Challenge (IWC), winning 25 gold medals in 2025 – up from 10 the previous year. The country recorded the highest percentage of gold medals per entry among all competing nations, with 16% of English wines entered taking top honours.
Kent emerged as England's leading wine region, securing 12 gold medals, predominantly for sparkling wine and chardonnay. Judges hailed the results as evidence of England's 'rise as a world-class wine producing country'. Sam Caporn, a master of wine, attributed the success to older vines, longer maturation, and improved winemaking techniques, noting that producers are learning from earlier plantings and using diverse clones and rootstocks.
Oz Clarke, co-chair of the IWC, described the improvement as 'remarkable', stating: 'Growers now understand their vineyards far better, winemaking has become more precise, and there’s a real confidence about what England can achieve, particularly with sparkling wine.' He added that English wines are now judged alongside the world’s best and winning on quality alone.
Supermarket own-label wines also performed strongly, with gold medals awarded to bottles from Aldi, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s. While France led the overall country rankings, England came ninth but outperformed all others in gold medal percentage. Other top-performing nations included Spain, recognised for sherries and rioja, and Portugal, which won awards for its port.
