The judges’ choice of winner – decided this year with guest judge Alecia Moore, aka P!NK – as well as the readers’ choice winner, will receive 20 books from AdVL’s robust list.
For the runner-up in each category, a set of three recent titles: The Wines of Portugal, The Wines of Provence and Pressing Matters.
And for the highly commended: The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide: Bordeaux and Tasting Victory, a commemorative edition of the memoirs of the late, legendary Gérard Basset.
All winners, runners-up and highly commended awardees will also receive a year’s free membership of JancisRobinson.com for themselves or for them to give as a gift.
All the winning entries – and many more that our judges believe to be in the running for a prize – will be published from mid July through to the end of August. Please check back daily to read the entries, as you’ll all have a chance to vote on your favourites in early September.
And if you haven’t submitted an entry yet, get writing! Details below.
28 May 2026 Breaking news – Alecia Moore, aka P!NK, will be our guest judge for this year’s WWC.
Moore is not only an immensely accoladed musician but she’s also a winemaker, putting in her studies with WSET and UCLA in between performances before settling in Santa Barbara County, California, where she now runs Two Wolves Winery with her co-winemaker Alison Thomson and cellarmaster Jenna Amundsen. Between her wine knowledge and her hardcore writing skills, we couldn’t imagine a better pairing for this year’s competition judge.
So, if you haven’t started writing, now’s the time. Moore will be reading all the entries from the competition finalists this summer and helping us determine the winners.
23 April 2026 Which wine would you most like to drink while listening to a favourite album or reading a good book? Do you have an ideal pairing for Barbie, the Mona Lisa, Succession, Underland or Don Giovanni? Tell us about it in our annual competition.
Generally, when we think of wine pairings, the first thing that comes to mind is partnering wine and food. Legions of books, articles, blog posts and WSET exam questions have been written about finding perfect pairings between wine and food. But wine also pairs with so much beyond food. It can transform everyday moments and elevate experiences such as listening to music, watching a film or just experiencing something special. That’s why the theme for our tenth annual wine writing competition is:
A great pairing
In other words, if you could pair wine with anything other than food – music, architecture, a painting, a colour, a film, television, a book or poem, an item of clothing, a physical setting or something else – tell us what your ideal pairing would be, or has been. Moreover, tell us why. What makes it a great pairing, and what makes it special, memorable or ideal for you? This can be a story about a pairing you’ve experienced yourself; it could also be one you hope to try some day. Or it might be a fantasy pairing. Don’t be afraid to get creative!
Anyone can enter, regardless of whether or not you are a member of JancisRobinson.com. Just bear in mind that your entry must be an original work, not published elsewhere, and may be no more than 1,000 words. Please also disclose any commercial ties you may have to your subject. You can see all the competition rules below.
The deadline for submitting your entry is midnight GMT on Monday 22 June 2026. Our judges’ favourite entries will be published on our site, free for all, beginning in mid July. A shortlist of the top entries will be announced in September, and you, the readers, can then vote for your pick for the readers’ choice prize. Meanwhile, our judges, including a guest judge to be announced in due course, will select the winner of the judges’ choice prize.
Rules of the competition
- Your entry can be up to 1,000 words, written in English, and should not have been published previously, nor submitted for publication anywhere other than JancisRobinson.com.
- It must be your own work, written without the aid of AI.
- We ask that you include one copyright-free, landscape-format image, produced without the aid of AI, to illustrate your article, sent as a separate file from your written entry. Suitable formats are JPG, JPEG, GIF or PNG with an aspect ratio of 7:4 and a minimum width of 2,500 pixels. Please include a caption, and credit if necessary.
- If you prefer not to submit an image, we will illustrate your article with an image of our choosing.
- Please send your entry in a Word document (no other formats will be accepted) attached to an email, along with your image. The image should be attached to the email as a separate file not embedded in the Word document.
- Include a brief bio/description of yourself, in no more than 100 words, at the top of your entry, in the Word document itself.
- If you would like us to tag you on Instagram in the event that we publish your piece, please include your Instagram username with your submission.
- Send your entry to [email protected] with ‘WWC26’ followed by your name and the title of your piece in the subject line.
- Entries must be received by midnight GMT on Monday 22 June 2026.
- By submitting your entry you grant publication rights to both JancisRobinson.com and Académie du Vin Library.
- Académie du Vin Library would like to send their newsletter to you. Please indicate at the top of your entry if you would rather this didn’t happen.
- The entry can be about something in which you have a commercial interest, but you must declare this.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
We very much look forward to reading your entries!
Check out last year’s wine writing competition, An ode to a grape variety, and explore past topics.
