Decanter names 15 award-winning Champagnes to mark International Champagne Day

What happened

On 23 October 2026, Decanter published a list of 15 Champagnes to mark International Champagne Day. Each wine on the list was drawn from the results of the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), one of the most widely referenced wine competitions in the world. The selection focuses on high-scoring bottles from the Champagne region of France, offering readers a considered starting point for the annual celebration.

Why it matters

International Champagne Day presents an opportunity for consumers to look beyond familiar labels and engage with bottles that have been assessed and recognised through a structured judging process. By anchoring its recommendations to DWWA results, Decanter provides a degree of rigour that distinguishes the list from purely editorial or commercial selections. For those seeking guidance in a category that can be as bewildering as it is rewarding, a curated shortlist drawn from competition results carries practical value. It narrows a vast appellation into a manageable set of bottles that have already been scrutinised by experienced tasters.

Context

The Decanter World Wine Awards is an annual competition that assesses wines from producers across the globe. Champagne, as one of the world's most scrutinised sparkling wine regions, features regularly among the entries. International Champagne Day is observed each year on the fourth Friday of October, bringing together enthusiasts, trade professionals, and producers in a shared moment of appreciation for the region and its wines. Decanter's decision to time the publication of its DWWA-derived Champagne list to coincide with this date reflects a broader editorial practice of connecting competition data with moments of consumer interest. The result is a resource that is both timely and grounded in verifiable assessment rather than conjecture.