In 2016, Veronafiere and Vinitaly established the Wine Without Walls section of the international tasting 5StarWines, to promote and give recognition to producers whose work focuses entirely on natural, organic and biodynamic, and low sulfite wines. The Wine Without Walls selection takes place in Verona, Italy, contemporaneously to the 5StarWines blind tasting organized from April 3rd to 5th 2019 right before the world’s most renowned Italian wine fair, Vinitaly. The third edition of Wine Without Walls this year will introduce a revised assessment method and two brand new trophies, both features aiming at giving added value to wineries enrolling in the selection.

There is huge potential in niche products such as so-called “natural” wines, especially with those wine consumers interested in sustainability.
Aligning with current consumer and viticultural trends, Wine Without Walls 2019 will showcase the natural, biodynamic, and low sulfite wines coming from every corner of the world. These wines will be tasted by high-profile international judges that will evaluate them following an improved assessment method.

Monty Waldin, General Chairman of 5StarWines and Scientific Director of Wine Without Walls commented on the new sulfites limit. “This year, we decided to raise slightly the permitted limit of total sulfites for the entries. Our rationale behind this change was to make Wine Without Walls slightly more inclusive but without going so far as to include in the tasting absolutely every single organic, natural or Biodynamic wine ever made. We are eager to test this new implementation to see what effect it has on the types of entries we receive. We are interested in receiving feedback and suggestions from wine producers. Our wish is that Wine Without Walls remains inclusive, credible, rigorous, and transparent, whilst also recognising that this field of winemaking is by implication as dynamic, challenging, rewarding and chameleon-like as the wines themselves.”

From now on, the dedicated Wine Without Walls jury will rate biodynamic and organic wines using the same numerical assessment method used for the 5StarWines grand tasting. The panel of judges will assign scores to each wine presented, and the elements subject to examination include the visual, olfactory, and gustatory components of the wine. Thereafter, an average score will be tallied; this final score will be out of 100. Wines scoring 90 points out of 100 will be included in the 5StarWines - the Book guide, a promotional tool designed to help wineries gain recognition and increased market share.

The selection process will also be enhanced by the assignment of various Wine Without Walls trophies. For the first time, along with a final score and a personalized commendation within the 5StarWines - the Book, participants will also run for the “Best Winery” and “Best Wine Without Walls Wine” trophies. The “Best Wine Without Walls Winery” trophy will be awarded to the producer who gets the best averaged out results. The final results are those that wineries obtain averaging the scores from at least 3 of their wines that procured awards in at least 2 different categories. The trophy for the “Best Wine Without Walls Wine”, however, will be instead assigned to the wine that scored the highest score during the Wine Without Walls selection.

Online registrations with discounted fees are now open for Wine Without Walls 2019. Wineries interested in gaining international visibility through this tasting can avail themselves of our 10% discount on the registration fee. This is therefore, a timely opportunity for producers to enroll at a discounted price in order to have their wines evaluated by top judges from around the world. 

 For additional information on wine enrollment, the 5StarWines team can be contacted at 5star@vinitalytour.com.