The International Wine Challenge (IWC) has announced a major new regional structure that will see the competition evolve into four regional wine competitions across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential, impartial and meticulously judged wine competitions, IWC will maintain its international standards and blind tasting process under the new structure, which have made it one of the wine world’s most respected benchmarks.

The new structure will launch from July 2026, with entries opening for IWC Asia Pacific ahead of its first judging event later this year in Adelaide from 30 November to 4 December 2026.

The co-chairs announced for IWC Asia Pacific are Cathy van Zyl MW (South Africa), Erin Larkin (Australia), Yang Lu MS (China), and Kenichi Ohashi MW (Japan).

Under the new format, wines will to be judged blind by expert panels within their regions before Gold medal-winning wines progress to London for International Trophy judging.

The new structure has also been designed to reduce international shipping requirements, strengthen regional trade relationships and allow the International Wine Challenge to bring leading judges closer to the wines, producers and cultures they are assessing.

Regional competitions will include judges drawn from across the international wine trade, including winemakers, buyers, sommeliers, journalists and educators, combining regional expertise with international perspective.

Lu said: “Wine reflects the places where it is grown, so it is fitting that judging should become more closely connected to those regions while maintaining a single international standard. The new structure brings the International Wine Challenge closer to producers, while preserving the independence, rigour and blind tasting process that have earned its global reputation.”

IWC Chairman Chris Ashton said: “IWC remains the global benchmark, but closer to home. Wine is global, but wine communities are regional. The new IWC structure has been designed to bring the competition closer to the producers, people and places shaping the future of wine, while protecting the integrity and international benchmark standards that IWC is built on.

“For producers, this means greater regional visibility, stronger local engagement and a more accessible route into one of the wine world’s most recognised competitions. What does not change is the standard. Wines will continue to be judged blind by leading experts, with the very best progressing to International Trophy judging in London.”

Entries for IWC Asia Pacific will open in July. Learn more here.