Wine Enthusiast Companies, a media and commerce company that stands as the leading source of innovation and information around wine, has expanded the company’s Wine Enthusiast Ratings Platform (WERP) to accept wines and spirits that are not currently imported into the United States. Non-imported products will now be blind tasted and rated by the reputable Wine Enthusiast Tasting Panel. Scores from Wine Enthusiast are widely utilized by brands, retailers and consumers globally. This new operational change makes the scoring service available beyond the U.S. and removes a limitation for non-imported products to receive a highly desirable Wine Enthusiast rating.
In June 2024, the company announced it had been working on a backend system from 2022 to 2024 to dramatically improve the long-standing tasting and review program at Wine Enthusiast. In September 2024, the Wine Enthusiast Ratings Platform launched, allowing two major upgrades: 1) every wine and spirit submission is guaranteed to be reviewed if the SKU is imported in the U.S., and 2) all regions across the globe are now welcome to submit wines and spirits to be blind tasted and rated.
Now, the Wine Enthusiast Ratings Platform has been expanded to accept all SKUs regardless if they are currently being sold in the United States. Non-imported wines will be reviewed by the taster who oversees the region where the wine was produced. Similarly, non-imported spirits will be reviewed by the spirits taster.
“The international beverage market relies on ratings and scores for building distribution and purchase consideration. Wine Enthusiast is committed to providing this service in a sustainable manner and invested in a system to accommodate every winery and distillery,” said Jacqueline Strum, President of Wine Enthusiast Media. “We listened to our partners and took steps to remove a barrier-to-entry and help producers penetrate the market globally. I’m proud of our Tasting Director Anna-Christina Cabrales and the Tasting Department for the incredible work to modernize our submission process and diligently address the complexity involved in this build-out.”
The processing fee to submit a sample for review is $65/SKU, which goes directly into supporting the platform, producing the buying guides for producers and readers, and upholding the blind tasting standards that consumers have come to expect from Wine Enthusiast. The processing fee does not affect the score and has no bearing on the outcome of a wine or spirit’s rating. The Wine Enthusiast Tasting Panel operates separately from the editorial and advertising departments, maintaining credibility in the market.
Previously, non-imported wines and spirits were submitted to the Wine Enthusiast Importer Connection. This program provided an opportunity for a producer or distiller to submit a SKU that is not sold in the United States for a review from a panel of tasters dedicated to Importer Connection. Wine Enthusiast created this program to help producers get connected to potential importers with the goal of entering the United States market. This program is officially sunsetted.