The Balkans International Wine Competition in Skopje

For the 10th consecutive year, The Balkans International Wine Competition and Festival (BIWCF) is looking for and promoting the best Balkans wine. The anniversary event will be held in two countries in June 2021. From June 2 to 4 Skopje will host the Competition, and in the period 17 – 19 June under the open sky in the heart of Sofia “The Wine Town” will rise, bringing together the best cellars from the Balkans.

The BIWCF team is already accepting registrations from wineries that want to compete for the Grand Trophy for Best Balkan Wine, the title of Best Winery in the Balkans, and the trophies and medals in the other categories. For the first time this year, the prize “Wine Personality of the Balkans” will be announced – for merits in the promotion of Balkan wines.

“Ten years of The Balkan International Wine Competition. Who could tell… TEN YEARS! Actually, those years have been ten amazing years, at least as far as the BIWC goes. It started almost like a crazy project. Then it continued growing. Getting bigger was not as important as getting more respected, but fortunately, the BIWC did extremely well on both accounts. It got bigger, it got respected and then it even started to travel… It is going to be the best Balkan International Wine Competition ever. It is always fascinating to see a beloved project grow. This year it is going to be emotional! Please join!”, said the Chairman of BIWC and first Master of Wine in the Balkans Konstantinos Lazarakis.

Since its beginning in 2021, The Balkans International Wine Competition is one of the very few in Europe that lean closer to the Australian Wine Show model, allowing for a better evaluation of the competing wines.

“There is great interest from wine producers in taking part in the anniversary competition! 2020 was full of challenges and changes but against all odds, we managed to hold a very successful Competition and Festival. BIWCF was one of the very few wine events in Europe for 2020 that weren’t canceled!”, said Galina Niforu, director and founder of BIWCF. “The winemakers in both Bulgaria and the Balkans are extremely talented and dedicated professionals who managed to get through the unexpected challenges brought by the COVID crisis with dignity and even more ambition. We at BIWCF are really happy and proud to give them an opportunity to show their success and achievements!”.

An exclusive trade degustation will be held in Skopje after the Competition on June 4. There wine importers, wine traders, HoReCa professionals, and media from North Macedonia, the Balkans, and Europe will be able to taste all the competing wines.

Registration is open until May 21, 2021. For more information check out