A medal sticker on a bottle looks like a placing in a race. Most drinks competitions do not work that way, and understanding the structure explains why medals are so common.
Judging is usually against a standard, not against rivals
Panels are typically asked whether a sample meets the criteria for a given medal level, not which of the samples in front of them is best.
Every entry clearing the threshold receives the medal, so a class can produce many golds or none depending on the quality entered.
This is the opposite of a competitive ranking, and it is why a shelf can carry a dozen gold medals from the same event.
Entry is self-selected and paid
Producers choose which competitions to enter and pay a fee per sample, so the field is composed of those who expected to do well.
A producer whose product did not medal simply does not mention it, leaving only successes visible to a shopper.
Large producers enter widely as a marketing function, while small producers often enter nothing at all, so absence of a medal carries no information.
Class definitions do a lot of work
Entries are grouped into classes by category, style, age and sometimes price, and the producer usually chooses which class to enter.
A well-chosen class puts a product among appropriate peers and gives the judges a coherent standard to apply.
A narrow or thinly contested class makes a medal easier to obtain, and the class name rarely appears on the sticker.
The judging conditions are constrained
Judges assess a large number of samples in a session, in small pours, without food, and usually blind within the class.
Those conditions favour drinks that make an immediate impression, which is a known bias toward intensity and away from subtlety.
A restrained product built for the table can perform poorly in that format while being the better bottle at a meal.
How to read the sticker
The useful details are which competition awarded it, in which year, and in which class, all of which are sometimes printed and often not.
A medal from a competition with a small expert panel and published judging notes carries more information than one from an event with hundreds of classes.
Treated as evidence that a product is competent within its category, a medal is reliable. Treated as evidence that it is the best of anything, it is not.