Shichiken Hakushin Triumphs as Champion Sake at IWC 2025

This year, the judging for the “SAKE Division” of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) 2025—recognized as one of the world’s largest and most prestigious wine competitions—was successfully held in London.

The IWC SAKE Division, launched in 2007 in partnership with the Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council (Sake Samurai), has grown into the world’s largest sake competition. This year marked its 19th edition, held over four days from April 14 at the Kia Oval in London. Judging covered 10 sake categories—Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daiginjo, Honjozo, Ginjo, Daiginjo, Futsu-shu, Koshu, Aged Sake, and Sparkling Sake. A total of 1,476 entries were evaluated by 70 sake specialists from 18 countries. In all, 387 breweries participated, including 11 overseas breweries (from the U.S., U.K., Vietnam, and China) that submitted 20 entries.

Since the division’s founding in 2007, the Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council (Chairman: Tsushima Kitahara) has served each year as the official coordinator, providing full support to the IWC SAKE Division.

The list of medal and trophy winners for each category has already been published on the official website (http://www.sakesamurai.jp/index.html). In addition, on September 9 at 10:00 p.m. London time, the winners of the highest honors were announced in London: the “Champion Sake,” the “Great Value Champion Sake,” “Sake Brewer of the Year,” and the “IWC Sake Prefecture of the Year.”

The “Champion Sake” is the highest honor, awarded to one sake out of 1,476 entries. First, a “Trophy” is given to sakes that win Gold Medals in their categories and are judged to be of an even higher standard. From among these Trophy winners, the single most outstanding sake is selected as the Champion Sake.

Since 2014, the “Great Value Sake” award has also been introduced. This award goes beyond categories and recognizes sakes that won Gold or Silver Medals and meet certain conditions: annual sales of over 100,000 bottles (720ml equivalent) and a retail price under 1,500 yen. Among these, the most outstanding is chosen as the “Great Value Champion Sake.”

In addition, “Sake Brewer of the Year” is awarded to a brewery that entered multiple sakes in the IWC 2025 SAKE Division and received consistently high evaluations across all of them.

Introduced in 2024 and sponsored by Nomura Real Estate, the “IWC Sake Prefecture of the Year” award honors the prefecture whose breweries collectively achieve the greatest number of top awards. Results are aggregated by prefecture, and the region with the highest overall recognition is celebrated.

This year, the following sakes were honored with the titles of “Champion Sake,” “Great Value Champion Sake,” “Sake Brewer of the Year,” and “IWC Sake Prefecture of the Year,” earning outstanding recognition on the global stage. We are confident that this will further increase worldwide attention to Japanese sake in the international wine market and deepen appreciation for its diversity.