2016 Awards

IWC MERCHANT OF THE YEAR 2016

IWC co-chair Tim Atkin MW (left) with Wine Society Chief Executive Robin McMillan

The IWC (International Wine Challenge) 2016 saw The Society receive four accolades during a glittering ceremony held at London's Hilton on Park Lane Hotel. These are:

• Merchant of the Year for the fourth time (following 2005, 2011 & 2013)
• Online Retailer of the Year
• Specialist Merchant for South America
• Specialist Merchant for Regional France

In addition, The Society was shortlisted for Specialist Merchant for Italy and for Spain.

The judges said that The Society "has a wonderful list of wines, lovingly curated by one of the best teams of wine buyers in the UK. Staff are immensely effective sellers of the excellently chosen wines."

Several of our wines received medals earlier in the year. See below for details.

Chief Executive Robin McMillan said:
'This is the top award in the UK wine trade and a ringing endorsement for The Wine Society's mutual model in what is an increasingly competitive market. The Society, the co-operative we all own, is in the exceptional position of having no masters to serve other than our members. This means that we can concentrate on what's important to you: providing delicious and interesting wines at fair prices backed up with outstanding service. It's a business model that has worked for more than 140 years and one that these awards suggest is to be cherished.'

2016 AWARD WINNERS: DECANTER & INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE

Society wines recognised by an independent panel of experts

As a member-owned mutual organisation, it is of course members' approval that matters most to us. Nonetheless, it is also pleasing to receive plaudits for the wines which we work hard to source for our membership, and we were delighted to see several of our wines receive such prestigious awards from these two independent panels of experts.