The Top 100 Panel Tasting

The annual judging for the Sud de France Top 100 has grown to become a favourite
fixture among the UK wine fraternity, pulling in a notable cross-section of trade
and critics alike. As such, it is the most rigorous assessment going of this diverse
region and the results herein represent a stellar selection of wines.

Backing this assessment, Occitanie wines are also currently proving a great
success story in the UK. They have achieved an 11% increase in volume and
17% value rise in the first six months of 2023 vs 2022, commending some 30% of
French wine sold here, outperforming all other French regions.

The judges were clearly impressed with the overall quality, with Helen McGinn
of TV and The Knackered Mother’s Wine Club fame saying: “It was a real joy to be
part of the judging this year, the quality of the wines entered was impressive – and
so varied from the lightest white to the deepest red and everything in between.”

The wines are entered by producers, with more than 400 entries then arranged
into style/AOP/IGT-based flights, which are then first tasted by the various
assembled judging panels. Having eliminated those not deemed worthy of
Top 100 recognition, reorganised flights are then tasted again by different judging
teams, with top wines in each category elevated to medal position.

“Tasting the Top 100 is one of the highlights of my year. I’ve been a fan of
the diverse wines from what’s now known as the Sud de France for more than 30
years,” says Atkins. “It’s great to see them getting the recognition they deserve.”
The Sud de France Top 100 competition is run in media partnership with Harpers Wine
& Spirit. It aims to discover and present the best wines from Occitanie, stretching from
Languedoc, Roussillon and Southwest of France through to the Rhône Valley.