Wine Market Shapers Awards: the people redesigning how Italian wine wins in the UK

On 27 April 2026 at ExCeL London, Wines Experience hosted the Wine Market Shapers Awards. The ceremony was designed as more than a celebration: it was a market signal. The Awards recognise importers, distributors, retailers, hospitality groups and trade professionals who are shaping the presence, perception and future of Italian wine in the UK—and, crucially, they prioritise long-term impact over short-term commercial results (market building, education, producer support and cultural development).  This is exactly where the innovation in wine is happening right now: not only in the vineyard or the cellar, but in the systems that translate quality into demand. Wines Experience was created to open this conversation with a clearer, more contemporary language using wine as a lens to explore innovation, culture and connection across people, territories and technologies. 

In mature import markets like the UK, the difference between “being present” and “being chosen” rarely depends on product quality alone. It depends on who is willing to do the long work of building distribution routes, training teams, constructing portfolios that make sense for modern lists, and communicating Italian wine in a way that is accessible without being simplistic. The Awards explicitly frame this: they celebrate operators who strengthen the relationship between Italy and the UK trade by improving how Italian wine is positioned, understood and valued. From a producer perspective, this matters because it clarifies where commercial leverage sits. If a market’s attention is fragmented and consumer behaviour shifts quickly, then trade actors who invest in education, selection and experience become the key multipliers of brand equity. 

What the Awards reveal about market innovation in 2026
Reading the Award citations as market evidence, three structural changes stand out.

1) Distribution is shifting from “access” to “architecture.”

The UK trade increasingly rewards importers and distributors who can build stable, scalable pathways for Italian producers while maintaining producer identity and long-term value. This approach is explicit in the Awards’ focus on producer partnership, sustainability, consistency and shared growth models. In practical terms, this is a move away from purely transactional importing toward an operating model where portfolio building and category development are treated as strategic assets.

2) Retail is becoming an experience platform, not only a sales channel.

Retail winners are recognised for integrated approaches across store, e-commerce and education, and for turning fine wine retail into an experiential destination built on curation, storytelling and customer engagement.This reflects a broader trend: visibility is no longer driven only by shelf space, but by the retailer’s ability to create context why this wine, why now, and how it fits a consumer’s life. 

3) Hospitality is the fastest route to cultural relevance.

The Awards highlight hospitality operators who combine rigorous staff training with dynamic, accessible wine lists, creating a consistent experience across multiple venues and helping Italian wine speak to a broader, newer audience. This is innovation at the service level: not changing the product, but changing how the product is interpreted, presented and remembered. 

2026 recipients: the professionals recognised at Wines Experience London. Below are the recipients recognised during the Wine Market Shapers Awards — Trade Edition.

Importers & Distributors

Armit Wines (Long-Term Value & Producer Partnership Award)

Berkmann Wine Cellars (Italian Wine Distribution & Market Builder Award)

Elevage Wines (Next Generation Italian Wine Importer Award)

Enotria (UK Italian Wine Market Leader Award)

Retailers

Majestic Wine (Italian Wine Retail & Market Reach Award)

Harrods (Retail Experience & Cultural Impact Award)

Hedonism Wines (Italian Fine Wine Retail & Portfolio Excellence Award)

Hospitality & Restaurant

Passione Vino (Artisan & Slow Wine Champion Award)

Big Mamma Group (Outstanding Wine Service & Italian Wine List Award)

Italian Food Distribution

Carnevale (Italian Food Distribution Heritage Award)

Cibosano (Italian Food Sourcing & Curation Award)

This is not a “winner list” for visibility’s sake. It is a map of the operators who are actively shaping the UK’s Italian wine ecosystem often through work that is hard to see from the outside: category education, portfolio curation, service design, and long-term market development. The Awards align with Wines Experience’s broader positioning: building a global, professional conversation where strategy is clear, data is usable, and innovation is treated as a practical driver of trade growth not as a buzzword.

For producers, the implication is concrete. Markets expand faster, and more sustainably, then the trade has partners who can translate Italian identity into modern distribution, retail and hospitality formats. The Wine Market Shapers Awards are designed to make those partners visible.