THE GOLDEN VINES AWARDS VOTING RULES
FOR EACH AWARD CATEGORY:
The winner is the one to poll the most nominations from all survey respondents’ completing The Golden Vines Report survey up until the closure of the survey, as determined annually by Liquid Icons.
If a tie, the winner is the one whose name appeared higher as a first nomination in survey respondents’ responses the greater number of times, and so forth in the event of a tie (i.e. second, third, fourth or fifth in descending order as relevant).
If the winner of The World’s Best Fine Wine Producer Award is also the winner of any other Award – except for The Innovation Award and The Hall of Fame Award where wine producers are not nominees – then the second placed wine producer in that category shall be elevated as the winner.
If the winner of The World’s Best Rising Star Award is also the winner of any other Award category – except for The Innovation Award and The Hall of Fame Award where wine producers are not nominees – then the second placed wine producer in The World’s Best Rising Star Award category shall be elevated as the winner.
Individuals nominated for The Hall of Fame Award have to be living persons on 7 March of the previous year.
Beginning 2021, if any producer wins an Award category three times during a ten year period, then that producer is promoted to a Golden Vines All Star Producer, and cannot then win that Award category again for a period of 10 years from the time they win that Award category for the third time. However, they are able to win an alternative Award category.
From 2023, a new Award category, The Golden Vines World’s Best Rare Spirit Producer, was introduced. Voters can include those working in the fine wine industry (as well as the rare spirits industry) provided they have requisite knowledge and experience to vote.
Votes will be deducted where:
Survey respondent lists the same name more than once
Survey respondent completes more than one survey
Liquid Icons believes multiple surveys have been completed by the same or related individuals
Liquid Icons believes the survey respondent has voted for a nominee where there is a conflict of interest (e.g. financial, relationship, exclusive distribution agreement with the producer, etc) in respect of some or all of the respondent’s nominations
Liquid Icons has identified perceived biases in the nominees of any particular survey respondent (e.g. voting for producers from the same region) in respect of some or all of the respondent’s nominations
Liquid Icons has identified a suspicious pattern of voting that appears to be collusion or coordinated voting in respect of some or all of the respondent’s nominations
VOTE WEIGHTING
Survey respondents with three years (or less) fine wine experience: votes will be multiplied by 0.33
Survey respondents with less than seven years but more than three years fine wine experience: votes will be multiplied by 0.66
Survey respondents with more than 15 years fine wine experience: votes will be multiplied by 1.33
Survey respondents with either a Masters of Wine or Master Sommelier qualification: votes will be multiplied by 1.33 irrespective of number of years of fine wine experience
Survey respondents with either a WSET Diploma or Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Certificate, or ASI Diploma: votes will be multiplied by 1.15 irrespective of number of years of fine wine experience
Survey respondents who are ‘vigneron’ (winemakers): votes will be multiplied by 1.33
Survey respondents who are ‘collectors’ with at least 10 years of collecting experience: votes will be multiplied by 1.00
Survey respondents who are ‘collectors’ with at least 20 years of collecting experience: votes will be multiplied by 1.33
BECOMING A GOLDEN VINES ACADEMY MEMBER:
Fine Wine (or rare spirits) Press or Media with at least three years of industry experience
Fine Wine (or rare spirits) Merchants, Brokers or Distributors with at least three years of industry experience
Sommeliers with at least three years of Fine Wine (or rare spirits) experience
Sommeliers at Michelin-star Restaurants (with or without certification) and at least three years of Fine Wine (or rare spirits) experience
Barrel-makers (fine wine) with at least five years of experience
Restaurateurs and Chefs of Michelin-star Restaurants with at least three years of Fine Wine (or rare spirits) experience
Other professionals working in the fine wine (or rare spirit) sector with at least three years of Fine Wine (or rare spirits) experience
Professionals (including vigneron) working at Fine Wine (or rare spirit) estates (or distilleries), with at least 3 years of experience, provided: i) they do not vote for their own estate or an estate owned by the same group and ii) they do not vote for another estate from their village or sub-appellation (e.g. voter from an estate in Pauillac cannot vote for another Pauillac producer)
Fine wine (or rare spirit) collectors with more than 10 years of collecting experience
Please note:
Voters self-certify that they are qualified
Voters who designate that they are either Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers or ASI Certificate holders will have their qualifications verified by the respective certification bodies or against their publicly-available directories
Voters who misrepresent their qualifications and/or years of experience might have their votes invalidated
Any contributor to the Golden Vines Survey who is not qualified to vote for the Golden Vines Awards shall be designated a “Contributor” to the Report
Contributors’ votes shall be discounted from voting for the Awards, but any commentary provided can be included for the purposes of the qualitative sections of the Report
THE GOLDEN VINES ACADEMY:
Qualified voters shall be automatically enrolled as Members into the Golden Vines Academy, a directory of which will be made available on the Liquid Icons website
Members shall be able to publicly announce their Membership into the Golden Vines Academy
Members shall be given a digital Golden Vines Academy logo that they can display on their business cards, LinkedIn, social media or emails