Great Bourton distiller wins gold

Rachel Hicks, distiller and co founder of Sky Wave Gin, who was educated in Banbury, said: "We are delighted that our Sky Wave Gin scooped a Gold Medal at the Women’s Wine and Spirits 2020.

"We are very excited to be appreciated by female buyers and consumers, whom we hold in the highest esteem.

"There are very few female distillers in the gin industry so I am thrilled to have also made the gin that has won.”

She added, “We launched Sky Wave Gin in Oxfordshire only a year ago. It took seven months of tastings and more than 40 recipes to get our signature London Dry Gin just right so we are thrilled to be recognised by this global competition.

"We are very much an artisan gin, we bottle and label by hand so I hope this award can inspire other women in business to think big.”

With women now buying 80 per cent of wine and spirits, winning a Gold WWSA medal is a considerable achievement.

Judge Sara Rossi, head sommelier and wine buyer at Trinity London said: “I believe WWSA Results are a guarantee to the customer of a quality product.”

Held in London at the Royal Yacht Club, the WWS Awards rated more than 1,000 samples from 45 countries around the world.