Concours Mondial de Bruxelles

I was recently part of the jury for the twelfth edition of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, one of the many wine competitions around the world. This was the biggest edition ever: almost 200 tasters from 46 countries tasted 4666 wines from all over the world. Over three days we blind tasted around 50 wines each day. 40-50 wines is what they consider to be a ”reasonable” number of wines in a day to be able to give a faire judgement of each. And you do want ot be fair – for many producers, especially those that are not so well known, this is an important event. Getting a medal that you can put on the label can make a difference.

1378 medals were given: 44 Grandes Médailles d’Or (<1%), 445 Gold Medals (9%), and 881 Silver Medals.

These were the French winners of Grande Médaille d’Or:

• Château Segonzac – Héritage 2003, Bordeaux Supérieur
• Château Beaumont 2002, Haut-Médoc
• Château Lacapelle Cabanac – Malbec XL 2002, Cahors
• Les Verdots 2003, Vignobles des Verdots, Côtes de Bergerac
• Château la Coustarelle – Grande Cuvée Prestige 2002, Cahors
• Champagne Jacquart – Tradition Brut
• Domaine Saint Hilaire – Advocate – Cabernet – Merlot 2002, Vin de Pays d’Oc Rouge
• Château de Viella – Prestige 2003, Madiran

Some names that won Gold Medal:

• Château de Pressac 2003, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
• Château Thieuley – Réserve Francis Courselle 2001, Bordeaux Supérieur
• Château de Haux 2004, Bordeaux Blanc
• Château Rollan de By 2002, Médoc
• Château Hostens-Picant – Cuvée d’Exception Lucullus 2001, Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux
• Château Lestage Simon 2002, Haut-Médoc

The full list can be found on: www.concoursmondial.be