From France! Japanese Sake, Japanese Wine, Japanese Liqueur, Japanese Distilled Spirits, Japanese Craft Beer, Japanese Cider Selected by World's Female Wine Experts, Gold Medals and Top Awards Announced!

The judging for the "20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026," where female wine experts such as female sommeliers, female brewers, female wine journalists, and female chefs from around the world conduct rigorous blind evaluations, was held on March 3rd and 4th, 2026, in Beaune, Burgundy, France. Along with the gold medal winners in six categories from Japan—Japanese wine, Japanese liqueur, Japanese sake, Japanese distilled spirits, Japanese beer, and Japanese cider—the six brands that received the highest scores, the [TOP OF THE BEST], were announced.

Brands that earned the title of being loved by women have achieved a 263% year-on-year sales performance, making this competition known for directly leading to sales. The six [TOP OF THE BEST] brands and the gold and silver medalists in each category are introduced with their product characteristics by the producers themselves in a "video awards ceremony" on the official YouTube SAKE-JYO channel. Please take a look.

This competition, originating in France, is gaining increasing attention each year for its unique characteristic of having female wine experts from around the world as judges. Award-winning beverages directly lead to sales. This is because it is no exaggeration to say that women's preferences drive the market for alcoholic beverages, including wine. The outline for this year and the [TOP OF THE BEST] are as follows:

■ Overview ■
Total entries: 2544 items
Number of participating countries: 8 countries (Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Italy, UK, Chile)
Number of judges: 165 people (Greece, Japan, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ukraine)
Number of entries from Japan: 295 items (Japanese Wine: 114, Japanese Liqueur: 30, Japanese Sake: 112, Japanese Distilled Spirits: 28, Japanese Beer: 5, Japanese Cider: 6)
Total awards for Japanese alcoholic beverages: 98 items (Japanese Wine: 38, Japanese Liqueur: 10, Japanese Sake: 37, Japanese Distilled Spirits: 10, Japanese Beer: 1, Japanese Cider: 2)

■ 20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026 TOP OF THE BEST ■
● Japanese Wine Category
Iwanohara Vineyard (Niigata) / Red Millenium 2024 Sweet
● Japanese Liqueur Category
Wakasamikatabeverage Co., Ltd. (Fukui) / Echizen-yaki Tsubo Jukusei Umeshu Nikuichi
● Japanese Sake Category
Sekiya Brewery Co., Ltd. (Aichi) / Houraisen Maha Junmai Daiginjo
● Japanese Distilled Spirits Category
Tango Kura Co., Ltd. (Kyoto) / Imo Shochu Imonyan
● Japanese Beer Category
Thriller Beach Brewery (Chiba) / Hinoki Mori no Kenja
● Japanese Cider Category
Kikusui Sake Brewery (Nagano) / Cider N35 Terroir Rosé
* Gold medal winners can be viewed here: https://feminalise-japon.com/archive

◆ Awards Ceremony in Japan & [TOP OF THE BEST] Announcement on YouTube
● [Awards Ceremony] 20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026 [TOP OF THE BEST]
● [Awards Ceremony] 20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026 [Japanese Wine Category]
● [Awards Ceremony] 20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026 [Japanese Sake Category]
● [Awards Ceremony] 20th Feminalise World Wine Competition 2026 [Japanese Liqueur and 4 other categories]

■ What is the "Feminalise World Wine Competition"? ■
It is a world-renowned competition, ranking among the top 5 in France, the home of wine. Each year, 2,000 to 3,000 types of wine from around the world, including Japan, gather in France. The biggest appeal of this competition, founded in 2007, is that its judges are female wine experts from around the world. Several hundred experienced female sommeliers, female brewers, female journalists, female importers, and female chefs from all over the world gather to evaluate wines through rigorous blind tasting, making it a very rare competition.
https://feminalise-japon.com/

■ Organizer ■
The organizer is Mr. Didier Martin, a professional wine competition organizer who has operated wine competitions in Burgundy, the home of wine, for over 30 years. Witnessing the economic influence of women in the global wine market, he founded the "Feminalise World Wine Competition" in 2007, a new and unique wine competition with female judges that had never existed before.

■ Feminalise Japan Public Relations Ambassador / Honorary Chairman ■
The Feminalise France headquarters, with the aim of promoting Japanese wine entries and facilitating Japanese female judges, appointed a "Feminalise World Wine Competition Japan Public Relations Ambassador / Honorary Chairman" in 2016.