The "Wine of the Year 2020" competition, which has become a popular landmark for Latvian gourmets in the range of wines available in Latvia, will determine the best world wines available in Latvia for the 7th year in a row, as well as, for the first time in the history of the competition, the best ciders created in Latvia and the Baltics, laying the foundation for the Baltic Cider Awards. An international jury will determine the best sparkling, white, red, pink and fortified wines, as well as ciders, to be presented in a special parade on February 27, 2021 as part of the Riga Wine & Champagne festival.

The aim of the "Latvian Wine of the Year" competition is to determine the best sparkling, white, rosé, red, dessert and fortified wines available in Latvia, to demonstrate the diversity of wines available in Latvia and to make life easier for wine lovers by offering a guide to the wide range of wines. Almost 500 wines are submitted annually for evaluation by the international jury of wine experts and sommeliers, of which last year, for example, the jury awarded "Gold" medals to 16, "Silver" – 99, "Bronze" – 237, and "Worth tasting" – 46 wines. Submission of wines for the 2020 competition has already begun – leading importers can submit wines until the end of August on the festival website www.rigawinechampagne.lv .

Ciders will also be judged in the competition.

In collaboration with balticcider.com and the "Cider Path" project, while assessing the growth of the local cider category, this year, for the first time in the history of the competition, the jury will also focus on evaluating the best natural ciders created in Latvia and the Baltics.

"In recent years, the medals of the "Latvian Wine of the Year" competition have become a quality mark that helps consumers not to get confused in the huge wine offer on the Latvian market. Considering that the range and quality of ciders fermented in Latvia has grown significantly in recent years, we wanted to introduce clarity into the wide range of ciders, increasing the popularity of this traditional drink and revealing the culture and behind-the-scenes of the drink to gourmets," comments Aigars Nords, founder of Riga Wine & Champagne and the "Wine of the Year" competition.

The goal of the "Baltic Cider Awards", in collaboration with Riga Wine & Champagne, is to highlight the diversity, taste nuances and role of local ciders in gastronomic culture, as well as to create consumer awareness of authentic local cider as opposed to the range of industrial beverages, because, like wine, cider is produced by fermenting the juice pressed after the harvest. Baltic cider makers earn awards in competitions organized abroad, they also deserve recognition on a local scale.

The cider competition is being created by Riga Wine & Champagne in collaboration with SIA "Latvijas Sidrs" and the LLTA "Lauku Ceļotājs" project "Sidra Ceļš" , which will ensure the participation of leading cider makers, as well as foreign experts, such as Felix Nash, in the competition. The internationally recognized team of sommeliers with Michael Schuster, Andrew Jeffords and Raimonds Thomsons, will this time be supplemented by an international team of cider experts led by Felix Nash. Felix Nash is the founder of The Fine Cider Company from the UK, the author of the book Fine Cider and various publications in The Financial Times and The Telegraph.

Andrew Jeffords joins the jury

For the seventh year running, the jury of the "Latvian Wine of the Year" competition will be led by Michael Schuster from Great Britain, one of the most internationally sought-after wine "judges" and lecturers with 30 years of experience, a member of the jury of the Decanter magazine's World Wine Awards competition, a member of the board of The Wine Society and Academie Internationale du Vin, and the author of several popular wine best-sellers and prestigious publications The World of Fine Wine and Decanter.

Schuster will be joined by Andrew Jefford , one of the world's leading wine critics, who will be joining the "Latvian Wine of the Year" jury for the first time, although he already visited the Riga Wine & Champagne festival in 2013. Jefford is one of the most sought-after lecturers and experts in the wine world, the author of numerous award-winning books (The New France, Wine Course, etc.), the winner of seven Louis Roederer awards, the author of a regular column and weekly blog for Decanter, co-chair of the Decanter jury, editor of The World of Fine Wine magazine and one of the authors of the Financial Times wine columns.

The jury also includes Latvia's most award-winning and competent wine professionals - Aigars Nords (founder of Riga Wine & Champagne, highest WSET diploma in oenology), Raimonds Tomsons (3rd place in the ASI World Sommelier Championship 2019), Jānis Volkinšteins (founder of the best Baltic wine bar "Vieta" and creator of the wine list), Linda Karpenko (student of the Court of Master Sommelier (CMS) program), Gints Sniedze (actively involved in the wine industry since 1997), Romāns Komars (Interbaltija AG), Aigars Lukstiņš (member of the Latvian Sommelier Professional Qualification Certification Commission, LIVIKO), Jānis Kaļķis (President of the Latvian Sommelier Association, Chief Sommelier of RSkorpions (Sky supermarkets), Kaspars Reitups ("Barents", 23rd best sommelier in the world in 2019, Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier), Agnese Meiersone (Baltic 3rd best sommelier 2017, Interbaltija AG), Ronalds Pētersons (« Noble Wine », winner of the Baltic Sommelier Championship).

Competition results and tasting

To ensure the impartiality of the jury, all wines and ciders are tasted according to the "blind" tasting principle, without revealing the identity of the wine and the producer. The results of the competition will be made public at the end of September 2020 both via the festival website www.rigawinechampagne.lv and by involving the festival's media partners, including the magazines "Klubs" and "Santa" in the special November issue of the magazine "Wine of the Year 2020".

The winners of the competition, or the 100 best wines and ciders, will be available for tasting at the "Top 100 Wines + Chefs" parade on November 14, 2020 at Hanzas Persona, where every gourmet and wine lover will be able to taste the best wines and ciders available in Latvia in combination with the delicacies of the best chefs of Riga and Latvia, as well as go on a special "taste journey" through the Baltic cider regions. Tickets for the event, as well as for other events of the Riga Wine & Champagne festival's autumn session, will be available for purchase in September at www.rigawinechampagne.lv or on the eKase website www.ekase.lv .

About Riga Wine & Champagne

Riga Wine & Champagne is the first champagne, wine and gourmet festival with the most extensive program of tastings of top-quality wines, master classes and dinners in the Baltic States. The festival began in 2012 and traditionally takes place in two sessions – autumn and spring. So far, a number of the world's leading winemakers and wine critics have visited the festival in Riga – including critics and reviewers Peter Liem, Richard Juhlin, Andreas Larsson, Andrew Jefford, Michael Schuster, Ian D'Agata, Essi Avellan MW, Tim Wildman MW, Mark Andrew MW, Michael Sager, Ronan Sayburn MS, winemakers Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, Charles Philipponnat, Michel Drappier, Jean-Herve Chiquet, Willi Brundlmayer, Stefano Carpanetto, Mireia Torres, Frederic Panaiotis and many others. Riga Wine & Champagne would not be possible without the hospitality of its partners and the desire to develop the culture of wine and gourmet food in Latvia. The festival's master class partners are Electrolux Latvia and Riedel glasses.

About Baltic Cider Awards

The Baltic Cider Awards or Baltic Cider Award was created to highlight the quality of real ciders produced in the Baltics, to celebrate the diversity of local cider flavors and their role in gastronomic culture together with professionals and gourmets. All Baltic cider makers who make cider from freshly fermented apple or pear juice grown in the Baltics are invited to participate in the competition. The Baltic Cider Award will be held for the first time in the fall of 2020 as part of the “Latvian Wine of the Year 2020” organized by Riga Wine & Champagne, in cooperation with SIA "Latvijas Sidrs" and LLTA "Lauku Ceļotājs" project "Sidra Ceļš" . The results of the first Baltic Cider Award will be published in October and a tasting of the winners will be offered to a wider audience on November 14 as part of the “Top 100 wine & Chefs” tasting.