A guide to our 2025 wine writing competition

Julian Leidy

Thursday 17 July 2025 • 2 min read

white grapevine on a purple background. Image by diane555 via iStock.

This year’s competition sets a new record, with 309 individual odes to grape varieties submitted! You can read more about the competition below and see the list of entries published so far, which will be updated daily.

In a rather unexpected turn of events, an astonishing 309 entries have been submitted to this year’s wine writing competition! That trounces the previous record of 214 entries, held by last year’s competition on unforgettable wine moments. The other judges and I are thrilled that so many people have shared odes, stories and opinions about grape varieties with us.

We have received submissions from writers living in a total of 38 countries across six continents, from Spain to Singapore, Mexico to the Maldives. Many of the authors also entered into past competitions, while quite a few are first-time entrants. Alongside writers involved in almost every aspect of the wine trade (including winemakers, journalists, sommeliers, educators, students and more), authors engaged in an eclectic array of fields – law, consulting, medicine, oceanography, architecture, art, music, theology – have submitted entries.

Odes have been written about a total of 124 different grape varieties, ranging from Albariño and Acıkara to Zibibbo and Zinfandel. In addition to prominent grapes such as Merlot, Nebbiolo and Sémillon, entrants have also written about lesser-known varieties like Cesanese, Mavrokoundoura, Telti-Kuruk, Scuppernong, Bacchus and many more. The most written-about variety is Chardonnay, with 18 entries, followed by Riesling (16 entries), Chenin Blanc (13 entries), Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir (with 12 entries each). Syrah was also quite popular, with 10 odes written about it, while nine essays apiece were penned about Palomino and Sauvignon Blanc. Cabernet Sauvignon might be the world’s most-planted grape variety, and the source of many of its most expensive wines, but only seven odes were written about it, tying it with both Merlot and Assyrtiko.

These entries offer a great way to learn more about the incredible diversity of wine grapes being cultivated around the globe, and they show just how varied, exciting and dynamic the world of wine is right now. Moreover, readers seeking to branch out and try new grape varieties will surely find some inspiration from reading these (I, for one, went straight to my local wine shop to find a bottle of Ruchè after reading Marisa Finetti’s excellent entry on that Piemontese variety, published earlier this week). It’s a delight to read such informative, well-researched, eloquent, entertaining and, at times, touching essays.

The panel of judges, made up of editors from JancisRobinson.com and our partners at the Académie du Vin Library, who are kindly sponsoring the competition, certainly have their work cut out for them as they continue reading through the anonymised submissions. Their favourite entries will be published – unedited – daily until the end of August. These are free for everyone to read, regardless of whether or not you are a member of JancisRobinson.com, and will be added to the list below (with the most recent entries at the top) as they are published.

Once a shortlist of the top entries is announced in early September, readers will be able to vote for their favourite shortlisted ode. Meanwhile, Hugh Johnson OBE will join the panel of judges to help us determine our pick for the winning entry. Winners and runners-up in the Judges’ choice and Readers’ choice categories will receive a set of the beautiful, handmade wine glasses designed by Jancis and Richard Brendon along with a selection of books published by the Académie du Vin Library (you can see the full list of prizes on offer here). Highly commended writers will be given a year’s membership of JancisRobinson.com, as will the winners and runners-up.