Fair Wine Award
„The international competition for sustainable and environmentally friendly wines.“
unique . fair . international .
Under the motto “Fair has a future”, the international wine competition “Fair Wine Award” presents the challenges facing global viticulture in terms of climate change and adaptation to changing natural and social challenges.
These include wines from the traditional, classic grape varieties as well as wines from grape varieties that come from new grape varieties, are considered robust and vital, have special characteristics in terms of resistance to vine diseases, come from sustainable production or are to be regarded as historical grape varieties of a wine-growing region.
What they all have in common is that the grape varieties are adapted in a special way to the respective market and environmental conditions and enable a natural, environmentally friendly, sustainable and culturally valuable wine production.
With the “Fair Wine Award”, the organizers promote qualitative competition among producers and at the same time o ers an attractive opportunity to increase the recognition of wines and improve marketing.
A jury of experienced and professionally recognized wine experts and scientists guarantees an independent and technically accurate evaluation of the submitted wines. The awards for the individual wines thus receive a high reputation and recognition.
The following advantages await you:
- Awarding of the winning wines at EUROVINO (February 2027). At the high-profile and media-effective networking evening event and 2 days of full trade fair presence in the large tasting zone.
- Marketing presence and free mention in the Fair Wine PR work as a door opener to the specialist wine and upmarket food retail/SEH trade as well as the restaurant/hotel trade. The Fair Wine Team plays the results of all awards in the German trade.
- High media attention – in addition to the Fair Wine Award, the “Fair Wine Wine Retailer 2027” and the “Wine Bar of the Year 2027” will also be chosen.
- Fair Wine Road Show 2027. You can be there with selected wines when the award is presented directly at leading specialist retailers in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt (among other places).
- The Fair Wine quality seal as a free file for your advertising, or (optionally) as a sticker on your bottle.
- Winning wines can be used in Fair Wine Academy staff seminars for retail and gastronomy.
- Free link to your website/online store for 1 year on www.fair-wine.com
Dates & Dates Award 2027
- Start of registration: from September 2026
- Registration deadline: February 12, 2027
- Closing date: February 13, 2027
- Tasting: 15. + February 16, 2027
- Award ceremony at EUROVINO 2027 on February 28, 2027
- Fee per wine: 125,00 €
- For five wines we offer a discount of 5%
- We offer a 10% discount on orders of ten or more bottles of wine.
Approved wine categories
| RES | Wines from climate- and fungus-resistant grape varieties and new varieties. |
| AFTER | Wines from environmentally friendly and sustainable production as well as organic wines (all grape varieties are permitted). |
| HIS | Wines from historical grape varieties that were known as grape varieties before 1900, under 1,000 hectares of vineyards. |
| SKF | Sparkling wines (from traditional, classic bottle fermentation, Method Rurale, Methodo Antico and Pétillant Naturel) |
| SMC | Sparkling wines with designation of origin and single vineyard designation (also Charmat method) |
| NOE | Natural wines, orange wines, experimental wines and wines from alternative fermentation and ageing containers such as amphorae, concrete cisterns, etc. |
| NON&LOW | Non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines in every category listed above, as well as reduced-alcohol wines and newly interpreted wine styles with 0.0% vol. |
Results
New: Categories expanded!
correctly . now . immediately .
Jury
„Our wine jurors are experienced tasters with years of jury experience and are committed to a fair competition.“
experienced . professional . conscientious .
The tasting and evaluation of the submitted wines will be carried out by a professional, experienced jury of recognized wine experts and trained wine experts.
The samples are tasted covertly and evaluated sensorially according to the internationally recognized 100-point scheme.
The jury members receive the necessary information for the tasting of each individual wine, such as vintage and grape variety, which, however, does not allow identification of the individual wine.
In addition, the tasters receive further information on the production and marketing of the wine, which is carried out according to the entrant and/or the proposal of the jury board. This information also does not allow identification of the individual wine, but gives the taster information on how and for what marketing purpose a wine was produced.
The tasting for the 3rd FairWineAward took place on February 17, 2024 in Karlsruhe, at the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center.
The jurors were:
| Renate Liebl | Lieber Liebls | info@lieberliebls.at |
| Anita Dietrich | Oenologist | |
| Michael Reuther, Dr. | Experts for wine & pricing | dr.michael.reuther@gmail.com |
| Inge Mainzer | mastering wine | post@ingemainzer.de |
| Denis Duhme | Weinintensiv | denis.duhme@weinintensiv.de |
| Florian Schwander | JKI Federal Research Institute for Grapevine Breeding | florian.schwander@julius-kuehn.de |
| Hermann Pilz | Tasting management | hermann.pilz@wsi-pilz.com |
| Johannes Radtke | Sommelier-Union | Johannes.radke@sommelier-union.de |
| Emrah Isitmen | Sommelier | emrahisitmen@gmail.com |
| Melih Günsel | Höchst Winery | melih.günsel@weinkellerei-hoechst.de |
Results
comprehensible . transparent . current .
In order to ensure high-quality and recognized competition, the percentage of award-winning products will be limited to a maximum of 40 percent of the wines submitted to the competition. The following award levels will be awarded to the award-winning wines:
- Fair Wine Award 6 stars
- Fair Wine Award 5 stars
- Fair Wine Award 4 stars
- Fair Wine Award 3 stars
- Fair Wine Award Fair Buy
| Quality grading / description | Points on the 100 scale | Number of stars |
|---|---|---|
| defective, insufficient | 50-65 points | |
| weak, with defects | 66-71 points | |
| sufficient | 72-75 points | |
| recommendable | 76-84 points | Fair Buy |
| very good | 85-89 points | 3 stars |
| excellent | 89-94 points | 4 stars |
| top, world class | 95-97 points | 5 stars |
| unique | 98-100 points | 6 stars |
Special Awards
In addition to the awards and medals awarded, the jury awards a prize for:
- The best wine, sparkling wine of the category
- The best producer, with the most and highest rated wines
- Other special categories
- The jury can award “Fair Buy” or “Best Fair Buy” to wines that are rated satisfactory or good.
Winner of the Fair Wine Award 2026
The Fair Wine tasting zone at EUROVINO 2026
