Regulation

Greece, a country with a long-standing tradition in the production of wine and spirits dating back to antiquity, is today positioned on the contemporary wine and spirits map with distinctive and highly compelling characteristics.

It is distinguished by the wealth of its noble indigenous grape varieties, which, together with international varieties and the wide range of soil and climatic combinations, create a multitude of ecosystems (terroirs) and contribute to the production of a broad spectrum of wines and spirits of diverse and distinctive character. Over recent decades, the Greek wine sector has made significant progress at both technical and scientific levels, resulting in a direct and substantial improvement in the quality of its products.

Through the organization of the “THESSALONIKI WINE & SPIRITS TROPHY,” Winemakers of North Greece aims to:

• present the richness of Greek and international wine and spirits production to both consumers and the trade
• promote awareness and familiarity with Greek grape varieties
• enhance the visibility and promotion of Greek wines and grape-based spirits

At the same time, it seeks to contribute to the broader recognition of wine and spirits as cultural assets and, more generally, to the development of wine and spirits education.

The Organizing Committee of the Competition shall consist of at least five (5) representatives of sectoral bodies, as specified below.

The Chair of the Organizing Committee shall be appointed from among the representatives of the Organizer (ENOAVE S.A.).

The President of the Competition shall be selected by the Organizer (ENOAVE S.A.).

The Organizing Committee, in cooperation with the President of the Competition, shall select the judges of the Competition (Greek and international) based on their acknowledged competence in sensory evaluation.

• Wines of Greece / National Interprofessional Organization of Vine and Wine (EDOAO)
• Greek Wine Federation (SEO)
• Central Cooperative Union of Vine and Wine Products (KEOSOE)
• Association of Greek Producers of Spirits & Alcoholic Beverages (SEAOP)
• Winemakers of North Greece (ΕΝΟΑVE)
• Wines and Spirits of Thessaly (ENOATHE)
• Winemakers of Central Greece (ENOAKE)
• Winemakers of Attica (ENOAA)
• Winemakers of the Peloponnese (ENOAP)
• Winemakers and Vine Growers of the Aegean Islands (ENOANA)
• Winery Network of Crete (DOK)
• Panhellenic Union of Graduate Oenologists
• Association of Greek Oenologists
• Panhellenic Union of Sommeliers
• Municipality of Thessaloniki

All bottled wines in glass containers of up to 2 liters may participate in the Wine Competition. This includes:

• PDO wines
• PGI wines
• Varietal wines
• Special wines bearing indications of origin or provenance
• Wines without geographical indication (table wines)

Wines packaged in Bag-in-Box containers are evaluated by the judging panels, and their scores are communicated exclusively to the producers. However, they are excluded from awards and distinctions (medals or special distinctions).

The Spirit’s Competition is open to grape-based spirits (such as brandy, tsipouro) and aromatized spirits (such as ouzo, gin, tsipouro, tsipouro with anise) produced by a distillery and/or spirits plant holding the corresponding professional license for distillation and/or spirits production.

Grape-based spirits without official certification of label compliance with the applicable legislation shall be evaluated by the judging panels, and their scores shall be communicated exclusively to their producers. However, they shall be excluded from awards and distinctions (medals or special distinctions).

Legally operating wineries, distilleries, or spirits plants may submit experimental wines or spirits (including gin and ouzo) for evaluation. Judging panels will assess these samples and share scores exclusively with producers. Experimental samples are not eligible for awards or special distinctions.

Except for experimental samples, all products must be intended for commercial sale and come from a homogeneous batch of at least 1,000 liters. Batches as small as 100 liters may be accepted with justification.

The application for participation in the Competition may be submitted by the bottler, the distributor, or the importer.

The organizers shall bear no responsibility for the late arrival of samples, any physicochemical or organoleptic deterioration caused by temperature fluctuations during transport, or loss of samples during shipment.

Participants shall bear sole responsibility for and shall cover all costs of loading, transportation, and customs clearance, which they shall arrange directly with the transport companies. Products that do not comply with the above requirements shall be excluded from the Competition, without any refund of the entry fee or return of the samples to the sender.

The organization of the tasting sessions involves the following:

a. The Organizer
The Organizer is responsible for the proper preparation of the tasting process (materials and services) and for providing secretarial support throughout the Competition. In addition, the Organizer selects the sommelier team that oversees the serving of wines and spirits.

b. The President and the President’s Support Team
The Organizing Committee will appoint a support team for the President. This team should include representatives from independent bodies if possible. The team helps the President carry out their duties. The number of team members depends on how many wines and spirits are entered in the Competition.

The President shall be responsible for overseeing the proper implementation of all Competition procedures and for supervising the judging panels.

Specifically:

• Ensure the complete anonymity of all wines and spirits tasted by the judges, as well as the confidentiality of the results until the competition is concluded.
• Verify, prior to the start of each judging session, the overall organization of the tasting, including the order of presentation and the tasting code assigned to each sample.
• Oversee the opening of bottles, temperature control, product identity, and the anonymous presentation of products to the judges.
• Supervise the proper execution of service
.
• Monitor the correct operation of the Competition Secretariat.
• Authorize the tasting of a second bottle of any sample when the panel president deems it necessary.

c. Judging Panels
The samples are evaluated by International Judging Panels, the number of which depends on the total volume of wines and spirits entered in the competition. Each Judging Panel consists of five (5) tasters. One of the five (5) judges is appointed by the Competition President, in collaboration with the Organizing Committee, to serve as the Panel President.

Samples are grouped and tasted by category. Within each tasting flight, drier wines are presented before those with higher residual sugar, and younger wines before aged wines, always tasted in descending order of vintage.

After the wine categories are completed, spirits without the addition of aromatic substances are tasted first, followed by younger spirits before aged ones, always in descending order of vintage. The remaining aromatized spirits, gin and ouzo, are tasted subsequently.

The general operation of the judging panels shall follow the rules set out below:

(a) Conditions During the Tasting
On the first day of the competition, before the judging begins, a briefing session is held to inform all judges of the tasting procedure.
The Judging Panels convene in a quiet room, with appropriate lighting and good ventilation, where the ambient temperature is maintained, as far as possible, between 18°C and 22°C. Smoking is prohibited in the room, and no person not involved in the tasting's organization may enter.
Each judge gets a set number. At their table, they have water, some bread slices, and a spittoon.
In a second, adjacent room—out of the judges’ line of sight—the bottles are uncorked and poured into glasses. Subsequently, all samples from the same flight are served into the judges’ glasses in the sample-preparation room, then transported to the tasting room, where they are placed in front of each judge. Every glass bears the unique code number of the competing product, thereby ensuring sample anonymity throughout the tasting process. Each session has up to 75 samples for each judging panel each day. Usually, there are three groups in the morning and two in the afternoon.

(b) Evaluation of Samples
Judges evaluate wines and spirits electronically. If judges cannot use the electronic system for any reason (e.g., a power outage, an unstable internet connection, or another technical issue), they conduct the evaluation on paper.
In such cases, judges receive all the samples for their assigned flight, along with duplicate evaluation sheets for each wine. Judges then assess the samples individually, free from the influence of other judges, choosing the order and number of tastings as they see fit.
Each sample should be tasted three times: first for general impressions, second for broad classification (Gold, Silver, Bronze, No Medal, Fault), and third for the precise score. Scores go from 0 to 100, in whole numbers only (like 90, 91, 92, not decimals).

Once all judges for each panel have completed the evaluation of all samples within a flight, the judges move to a separate room for deliberation. Members of each judging panel discuss the scores assigned to each sample to reach a unanimous decision on a final score for each entry.

Following completion of the discussion of a flight's scores, the judges return to the tasting room and, if unanimity has not been reached on specific samples, those samples are re-tasted by the panel.

If no final agreement is reached and the sample is wine, it shall be evaluated by a second judging panel. If the new panel unanimously agrees on a score, that score shall be awarded. Should disagreement persist, the final score shall be determined as the average of the scores given by the judges of both panels. If no final agreement is reached and the sample is a spirit, the final score shall be calculated as the average of the scores awarded by the judges of the single panel.

The final score shall be submitted electronically. For hard-copy assessments, the evaluation shall be recorded on each judge’s scoring sheet. One copy shall be retained by the judge, and one shall be delivered to the Panel Chair, who shall collect, compile, and submit all documents to the Competition Secretariat.

On the final day, all samples are evaluated in the afternoon. After this, a category-based assessment is conducted for wines that have achieved a Gold Medal score, or for the top six-ranked samples per category. This applies if more than six samples have received a Gold Medal score within the same category (sparkling/semi-sparkling wines, white wines, rosé wines, red wines, dessert wines, retsinas). If no wines in a category have achieved a Gold Medal score, the corresponding Silver Medal wines are evaluated. All judges participate in this category assessment. The wine chosen by the majority is awarded Best Wine of the Category.

The Best Wines of each category, provided they have achieved a Gold Medal score, are re-evaluated by all judges. The wine chosen by the majority receives the distinction of Best Wine of the Competition.

The Best Gin and Ouzo spirit of the competition is the one with the highest score. If there is a tie for the highest score, an additional evaluation of spirits is conducted. Only the judges of the Spirits Judging Panel take part in this re-evaluation.

c) Breaks
After each flight of samples, a break of at least fifteen (15) minutes shall be provided, during which food, juice, and coffee shall be offered to the judges.

The recording of evaluations by the judges shall be conducted electronically using a computer, tablet, or mobile device.

The medals awarded to wines/spirits based on their scores are as follows:

• Gold Medal: 91–100 points
• Silver Medal: 88–90 points
• Bronze Medal: 85–87 points

The Organizing Committee, in cooperation with the President of the Competition, reserves the right to limit the number of awarded products by increasing the minimum score thresholds applicable to each category.

All judges will re-evaluate the top wine from each category. The Best Wine of each category will be awarded for the following:

• Best White Wine (Category 1)
• Best Rosé Wine (Category 2)
• Best Red Wine (Category 3)
• Best Dessert Wine (Category 4)
• Best Sparkling Wine (Category 5)
• Best Retsina (Category 6)

At least five samples from the same category must be entered for the above awards to be given.

Wines, ouzo, gin, and grape-based spirits that earn a Gold Medal score in each category will be re-evaluated by all judges. The following distinctions will then be awarded:

• Best Wine of the Competition
• The highest-scoring spirits, ouzo and gin, will receive these distinctions:
  – Best Spirit of the Competition
  – Best Ouzo of the Competition
  – Best Gin of the Competition

The Organizer may give special distinctions for specific wine or spirit categories. To receive this, at least five samples must compete in the category, and the sample must score at least at the Bronze Medal level.

ENOAVE S.A. issues an official certificate naming the exact awarded sample for each medal.

ENOAVE S.A. exclusively retains the right to produce and sell adhesive medal reproductions (bottle stickers). Bottlers or authorized representatives who wish to display the medal on their wine or spirit labels must obtain it from ENOAVE S.A. and pay the corresponding fee, regardless of the display format.

To enhance promotion of awarded wines and spirits, the organizers publish official results and distinctions on the website (www.tiwc.gr) and on the Thessaloniki Wine & Spirits Trophy social media channels.

The Organizing Committee shall retain, for a period of one (1) year, one bottle from each awarded sample and reserves the right to commission an approved laboratory to conduct specialized analyses of the awarded samples whenever it deems this necessary. It may also conduct verification and identification analyses of the awarded wines and/or spirits, comparing them with the corresponding wines and/or spirits available on the market.

The signatory of the competition entry form shall be legally responsible for all information contained therein. The Organizing Committee reserves the right, in accordance with lawful procedures, to verify the above information to confirm the authenticity of the product placed on the market relative to the sample submitted to the competition.

The results of the competition are final. Due to confidentiality, only awarded entries shall be made public. For each participating product, only its authorized representative will be informed of the score and judges’ comments.

After the competition, the judges will only be informed of the identities of the wines or spirits they awarded.

By entering the competition, you fully accept these rules.

1. White Still Wine
(Dry – Semi-Dry – Semi-Sweet – Orange Wine, with carbon dioxide overpressure of less than 0.5 Bar at 20°C)

1.a White Still Wine – Dry
Wines containing up to 4 g/L of residual sugars, or up to 9 g/L, provided that the total acidity, expressed in g/L of tartaric acid, is not lower than the residual sugar content by more than 2 g/L.

1.b White Still Wine – Semi-Dry / Semi-Sweet
Wines containing more than 4.1 g/L and up to 45 g/L of residual sugars.

1.c White Still Wine – Orange Wine


2. Rosé Still Wine
(Dry – Semi-Dry – Semi-Sweet, with carbon dioxide overpressure of less than 0.5 Bar at 20°C)

2.a Rosé Still Wine – Dry
Wines containing up to 4 g/L of residual sugars, or up to 9 g/L, provided that the total acidity, expressed in g/L of tartaric acid, is not lower than the residual sugar content by more than 2 g/L.

2.b Rosé Still Wine – Semi-Dry / Semi-Sweet
Wines containing more than 4.1 g/L and up to 45 g/L of residual sugars.


3. Red Still Wine
(Dry – Semi-Dry – Semi-Sweet, with carbon dioxide overpressure of less than 0.5 Bar at 20°C)

3.a Red Still Wine – Dry
Wines containing up to 4 g/L of residual sugars, or up to 9 g/L, provided that the total acidity, expressed in g/L of tartaric acid, is not lower than the residual sugar content by more than 2 g/L.

3.b Red Still Wine – Semi-Dry / Semi-Sweet
Wines containing more than 4.1 g/L and up to 45 g/L of residual sugars.


4. Dessert Wine (Still, Sweet)
Wines containing more than 45 g/L of residual sugars.

4.a. Naturally Sweet Wines – White

4.b Naturally Sweet Wines – Rosé

4.c Naturally Sweet Wines – Red

4.d Naturally Sweet Fortified Wines (Liqueur Wines) – White

4.e Naturally Sweet Fortified Wines (Liqueur Wines) – Rosé

4.f Naturally Sweet Fortified Wines (Liqueur Wines) – Red


5. Sparkling Wine (Sparkling – Semi-Sparkling)
Wines presenting carbon dioxide overpressure of 0.5 – 2.5 Bar at 20°C.

5. a Semi-Sparkling White Wine

5.b Semi-Sparkling Rosé Wines

5.c Semi-Sparkling Red Wines
Wines showing carbon dioxide overpressure exceeding 2.5 Bar at 20°C.

5.d Sparkling White Wines

5.e Sparkling Rosé Wines

5.f Sparkling Red Wines


6. Retsina

6.a White Retsina

6.b Rosé Retsina


7. Spirits of Vitivinicultural Origin

7.a Grape Marc Spirits (Tsipouro or Tsikoudia)

7.b Grape Wine Spirits

7.c Brandy

7.d Grape Distillates

7.e Raisin Distillates

7.f Wine Lees Distillates


8. Aromatized Wine-Based Beverage


9. Beverage Based on Vitivinicultural Distillate


10. Ouzo


11. Gin

Note: The Organizers reserve the right to exclude categories that do not reach a minimum number of entries. They also reserve the right to create new categories as needed and within the scope of the Competition.