An unprecedentedly high number of awards for oaked Sauvignons

1,120 entries from 23 producer countries competed in the 2022 Concours Mondial du Sauvignon – the largest and most significant international competition entirely dedicated to the Sauvignon grape variety. In addition to the Gold and Silver medals, the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon awarded special trophies to entries achieving the highest scores in special categories such as Sauvignon Blend, Oaked Sauvignon, Sweet Sauvignon and Best Sauvignon in the Competition.

An unprecedentedly high number of oaked wines were entered in the competition this year – 225, or a fifth of total entries. Most of the oaked Sauvignon wines came from Styria and Bordeaux. And they performed extremely well, with 35% of them receiving medals.

In 2022, the top five countries by number of medals are France, Austria, Italy, South Africa, and the Czech Republic.

Over twenty nationalities, including South Africa, Australia and Canada are represented on the tasting panel, thereby guaranteeing the outstanding diversity that sets the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon apart from other wine competitions.

Following the guidelines of the OIV and the International Oenologists’ Organisation, the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon grants accolades to a maximum of 29% of total entries.

To ensure consumers the highest level of satisfaction from the awarded wines, the organizers conduct subsequent checks on award-winning entries after the competition, by comparing a selection of those products with an anonymously bought sample from the same batch.

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Since 2002 global rosé consumption has risen by nearly 40% and the thirst for rosé wines is expected to continue growing.

“By holding the Rosé Wine Session we aim to respond to market needs and growing consumer interest and to give rosé wines the attention they deserve in the international arena”, says Baudouin Havaux president of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

The three countries that dominate rosé wine production in Europe are also those which entered the most wines in the competition this year: France (361), Spain (237) and Italy (230). But among the competing countries are also Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and even China.

Languedoc-Roussillon is the leading region for the number of entries (105) followed by Provence (98), Castilla-y-León (89), Abruzzo (50) and the Loire Valley (43).

For its host in 2022, the competition has chosen Valladolid, the capital of Castilla y León and home of some of the most famous rosés on the Iberian Peninsula.

The results

Over 1,000 rosé wines from around the globe competed last week in Valladolid for the coveted medals from the prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. The Rosé Wine Session of the renowned international competition awarded Silver, Gold and Grand Gold medals to rosé wines from 23 countries.

The best dry rosé in the competition comes from France, the best medium-dry from the Czech Republic and the best sparkling rosé is Romanian.

With 106 medals, the world’s biggest rosé producer France leads the way. Italy (69) ranked second with the host country Spain (68) close behind. Portugal and Moldova share fourth place with 23 medals each followed by Romania (13) and Greece (12).

It was great to be a judge there once more and an honor to be chair of my panel!

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