Effervescents^® du Monde 2007

The 5th international confrontation of the world’s best sparkling wines, Effervescents du Monde^®, organised by Forum Oenologie, was held on 15 and 16 November 2007 at the Lycée Le Castel culinary school in Dijon (France).

This event is unique in terms of its scope, its method and therefore its ambition:

International in scope:

• 24 countries 
• 408 wines
• 60 international expert judges

A strict method:

• Compliance with the international wine competition rules and strict application of the ISO 9002 Quality Assurance standard.
• Guaranteed implementation of scoring criteria for international competitions.
• Rigorous selection of the panel of expert judges, based on experience, diversity of backgrounds, professionalism, determination of their sensorial profile and training in tasting methodology.
• Annual assessment and grading of each taster.
• Faultless, quality-driven organisation: limitation of the number of wines per judge, ideal tasting conditions (sensory isolation, proper tasting rhythm, etc.) and secure computer processing of results.
• Differentiated analysis of the foam (visual) and the effervescence (tactile) of wines.

Ambition:

• To award reliable and thus representative medals each year, reflecting the founding motto of the Effervescents du Monde^® competition: diversity, quality and high standards.

After two days of work, the judges awarded a total of 136 medals.

Medal Breakdown Gold Medals 34 Silver Medals 102

Top 10 Sparkling Wines from Effervescents du Monde® 2007 Medal Country Wine Winery Gold Medal FRANCE Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut COULEURS DOYARD FRANCE Champagne Pierre Moncuit - Cuvée Millésimée Brut - Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 1996 CHAMPAGNE PIERRE MONCUIT FRANCE Champagne Grand Millésime - Brut 2000 CHAMPAGNE BARON FUENTE FRANCE Champagne Philippe Fourrier Cuvée Prestige Brut FOURRIER DELMOTTE FRANCE Crémant de Bourgogne Veuve Ambal Grande Cuvée Brut VEUVE AMBAL ITALY Franciacorta Docg Soul Saten CONTADI CASTALDI SRL AUSTRALIA Griffith Park Australian Sparkling Rose VICKERY WINES LIMITED ENGLAND Theale Vineyard Blanc de Blancs Founder's Reserve Brut 2003 LAITHWAITES ARGENTINA Trapiche Extra Brut TRAPICHE FRANCE Crémant d'Alsace Arthur Metz Brut Millésimé Rosé ARTHUR METZ SAS

General Trends and hight points

Growth

The 2007 edition has been a success, with growth in participation, showing that there is increasing interest in international, quality-based competitions: 24 countries and 408 wines.

Geographical Diversity

Wide representation from all the sparkling wine regions (AOC) in France, as well as from the major highquality and standard sparkling wine producers. The entries included wines made both with and without aromatic varietals, using traditional, ancestral or Charmat-type closed-tank methods. 50% of the wines in the competition were from France, splitevenly between Champagne and non-Champagne.

There was also strong participation from Spain, Italy and Brazil and Austalia as well as the arrival of new countries: Denmark, Belgium and Slovakia. In France, the areas of Alsace production and Loire Valley have significantly increased their participation.

There was a high level of diversity in terms of the sensorial qualities of the wines

Some real discoveries were made, thanks to the tasting of rosé and red sparkling wines made with the traditional method, wines made with the ancestral method, sparkling wines made from aromatic varietals and sparkling ice wines. Low-alcohol sparkling wines also drew notice. According to the expert judges, the wines displayed extraordinary variety and richness, with complex flavours and a great deal of finesse.

A high quality award list

With 24 countries, this international competition offers one of the strongest concentration and geographical sparkling wine diversity.          

Brazil, Italy and Spain obtain many medals. We can particularly note the pretty success gained by Brazilien Sparkling muscats. These three countries are very closely followed by Argentina, Australia, Hungary and Switzerland which gain also a beautiful prize list in 2007.

Seven others countries gain beautiful medals: Portugal, New Zealand, Uruguay, South Africa, Belgium, Denmark and Great Britain. 

France obtains very many medals thanks to the strong and very noticed participation of Champagnes, Alsace and Burgundy Crémants, the Loire Valley Appellation and also of the standard Sparkling Wine (VMQ).

The 6^th Effervescents du Monde^® confrontation will be held on 13 and 14 November 2008 in Dijon.

For further information and detailed results for each country: www.effervescents-du-monde.com

The Effervescents du Monde® competition is organised by the Association Forum Œnologie, with participation from the Revue des Œnologues in partnership with the Castel culinary school (Dijon - France), which acts as the sensory performance assessment centre for the expert judges, and hosts the competition.

During the tasting, the wines are served with active participation from students in the Wine Steward class.

The Services Actions Qualité company handles computer processing of all data and results from the competition.