[rhaway84773]

This doesn’t seem like a particularly prestigious contest.

It seems the people doing the “prank” intended to show that a lot of these contests are not legitimate and just an opportunity for the organizers to make some money.

It would be interesting to see whether a legitimate contest that did blind taste tests would fall for such a trick.

[OJFord]

Absolutely. The title alludes to the IWC which is at least a fairly prestigious award, and I couldn't have told you it stood for 'international wine challenge' before now, so frankly did think that's what it was. But that isn't where it won gold, it's something I've never heard of and the tasting isn't even blind (eye-catching label, etc.).