(Mirror) - Supermarket shelves are awash with bottles of Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio covered in awards but choosing a bottle can still be baffling.

Picking a bottle of plonk at the off-licence or the supermarket can be a tricky business.

Rows and rows of reds , whites, rose, sparkling wines and champagne line the aisles of all the big the super stores.

But how do you know the difference between a good Burgundy or a Bordeaux, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Grigio - which is currently the nation’s favourite tipple.

Let’s face it most people have a favourite they stick to week-in-week-out, unless there is a third-off or half price offer.

Sometimes one of the bottles you’ve picked up - read the label and seen what it’s good to eat with - has won some award or another.

But how do those awards work - and can they be trusted?

To try and through a little light on the subject The Daily Mirror went behind the scenes at one of the biggest blind tasting competitions in the world last week to check out how they whittle down more than 15,000 entries into FIVE trophy winners.

Under the stands of The Oval cricket ground earlier this month more than 100 judges from all over the world have been brought together to do that job for the International Wine Challenge.

While they know where the wines are from and what grapes, they have no idea of the brand or the price - which is why they sometimes give gold medals to a bottle from Aldi or Lidl.

Chris Ashton, a blunt-speaking Yorkshireman, who is the organiser of the event, said: “Most people are unsure about wine unless they’re a buff.

“If you just want to have a nice glass of wine and you follow our results, you’ll go on a journey where you won’t go far wrong.

“You may not like them all.

“What we are doing is trying to take the risk out of wine buying.

“If you see a medal, it’s going to be good. You may not like the style, but we will have done our job if you are prepared to go away from the style you usually stick to.

“It’s been through a very rigorous process of judging.

“If they try it and like it, they might buy it again.”

One of the ways that the IWC differs from other contests is that the experts doing the testing do not know the costs of the wines they are drinking.

He added: “We don’t do it on price. That’s why we do so well.”

And he picked out a Rioja from Asda for less than a tenner which won gold last year as a perfect example of how it is not always necessary to spend a fortune to get a great wine.