Concours Mondial du Sauvignon Launched During Bordeaux Fete le Vin

France and Chile received the most awards at the recent wine fair, which featured hundreds of wines and tasters from eleven countries.

Put on by the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, along with the ODG Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieur, this year marked the first Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, which was held during the Bordeaux Fete le Vin wine fair. By all accounts a huge success, more than 40 tasters from around the world participated in the competition, including winemakers, industry experts and writers from France, Chile, South Africa, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Spain and Germany.

France took home the most awards and also entered the most wines in the competition, accounting for more than 300 of the 512 total wines entered, and received 90 awards. Chile was honored with the second highest number of awards, after entering 61 wines and receiving 21 awards. Of particular note, Michel Laurent 2009 from Sancerre received the award for unoaked sauvignon under €12, while Casa Marin Sauvignon Blanc from Cipresse Vineyard received the honors for the same wine at a price point greater than €12.

Obviously, the Sauvignon Blanc grape is still quite popular among consumers, but critics still seem to struggle with it from time to time. Regardless, more than 80,000ha have been planted around the world according to most estimates, with France, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand boasting the largest numbers. Although the sauvignon can be a tough variety to work with, in the hands of the right producers it still has the power to garner serious praise from critics. Although some experts have noticed a slight shift among buyers towards lightly oaked Chardonnays, the sauvignon is still a strong contender on the world market.

 

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