The 2025 wine writing competition continues to break records! Having whittled down the unprecedented 309 entries that were submitted to a shortlist of the top 25, we then saw a record 2,162 readers vote for their favourite entry on the readers’ choice poll. It has been stunning to see how enthusiastic the response has been to this year’s competition. By the time voting closed earlier this week, there was a clear readers’ choice winner: Odessa Black: the grape that waited, by Maryna Revkova, which received a whopping 404 votes. A sommelier from Ukraine, Maryna wrote this thoughtful, moving essay about a hybrid variety from her native country.
The runner-up in the readers’ choice category was writer Cat Fitzpatrick’s Gewürztraminer: the most transsexual grape, an original and entertaining take on Gewürztraminer which received 311 votes. Another ode to a Ukrainian grape – Telti-Kuruk: Fox’s Tail and smell of sea, written by Ukrainian wine specialist Daria Antonenko – is the recipient of the ‘highly commended’ award, having garnered 246 votes.
While readers voted for their favourite entries, a panel of judges from JancisRobinson.com and our competition sponsor, the Académie du Vin Library – joined by this year’s guest judge, Hugh Johnson – worked to determine their top picks from the shortlist. With so many excellent entries, it was quite difficult to pick just one winner – so difficult, in fact, that the judges have chosen not one but two judges’ choice winners: Monsoon diaries with Riesling, by Shishir Baxi and A vestige to Tempranillo, by Raquel Jones. We loved how evocatively Shishir, a Dubai-based advertising professional, described the affinities between Riesling and India’s monsoon season and cuisine, while we were also quite taken with how Raquel, a winemaker in Australia, returned to her Spanish roots in her poetic ode to Spain’s most iconic red grape variety.
The judges were also most impressed by technology consultant and columnist Steven Norton’s Ode to Romorantin, deeming Steven’s tale about this lesser-known Loire grape variety the runner-up. Moreover, the judges decided to select two highly commended entries: Daughter of Scuppanon’, by Dr Monique Bell – a lyrical homage to Scuppernong’s history in the American South – and I am not bitter, by Anneleen Straetemans, a riveting tale about Criolla’s intertwined history with colonialism.
As the winners, Maryna Revkova, Shishir Baxi and Raquel Jones will each receive 20 books selected from the Académie du Vin Library’s extensive portfolio, along with a set of six hand-made Original wine glasses created by Jancis in collaboration with designer Richard Brendon. The runners-up, Cat Fitzpatrick and Steven Norton, have each won a set of two Original wine glasses and copies of two recent titles published by the Académie du Vin Library: Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate by Alex Maltman and The Cynic’s Guide to Wine by Sunny Hodge. Finally, Daria Antonenko, Monique Bell and Anneleen Straetemans, as the authors of the highly commended entries, will all be awarded a copy of On Tuscany. All of these authors will also be awarded a one-year membership to JancisRobinson.com, which they can use themselves or give as a gift if they are already members.
Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors. As our guest judge Hugh Johnson, a celebrated and deeply experienced wine writer, commented: ‘it’s been a fascinating exercise – and very impressive for the talent on display.’ All of us at JancisRobinson.com are hugely grateful for all the readers who voted on the shortlist, and of course all those who submitted entries to this year’s competition. With so much talent and enthusiasm on display this year, we very much look forward to next year’s competition.
Image by diane555 via iStock.
