Effervescents^® du Monde 2011

The 9^th international confrontation of the world’s best sparkling wines, Effervescents du Monde^®, organised by Forum Oenologie, was held on November 16-18, 2011 at the Lycée Le Castel culinary school in Dijon, France.

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

International in scope:

• 24 countries 
• 552 wines
• 100 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 three days of work, the judges awarded a total of 185 medals.

Medal Breakdown Gold Medals 38 Silver Medals 147

Top 10* Best Sparkling Wines from Effervescents du Monde® 2011 Medal Country Wine Winery Gold Medal FRANCE Crémant de Bourgogne Veuve Ambal Rosé Veuve Ambal FRANCE Crémant d'Alsace Wolfberger Brut - Lot 2 Wolfberger ARGENTINA Raza Brut Torrontes Fairtrade 2011 La Riojana Coop. HUNGARY Szent Istvan Muscat Royalsekt Zrt FRANCE Crémant de Bourgogne Léonce Bocquet Brut Groupe Patriarche - KBB FRANCE Champagne Philippe Fourrier - Cuvée Prestige Brut Champagne Philippe Fourrier FRANCE Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Millésimé - 05-10-2 La Cave des Hautes Côtes ITALY Franciacorta P.R. Blanc de Blanc Brut Soc. Agr. Monte Rossa Srl FRANCE Champagne Laforge-Testa Brut Millésime Champagne Laforge-Testa FRANCE Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Champagne Ruinart FRANCE Crémant d'Alsace Tradition Brut 2010 Engel Fernand et Fils SPAIN Cava Expression Solidarity Cuvée Brut Nature Bodegas Murviedro Sa FRANCE Crémant de Limoux Autrement Brut 2009 Gérard Bertrand * Some wines are rigorously equal thus the TOP 10 2011 includes 13 wines.

General Trends and hight points

Geographical Diversity

Wide representation came from all the sparkling wine regions (AOC) in France, as well as from the major high-quality and standard sparkling wine producers (VMQ). 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, split evenly between Champagne and non-Champagne.

There was also strong participation from Australia, Argentina, England, South Africa, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Hungary and Switzerland. In France, the areas of Alsace, Burgundy and Champagne 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.

Rosé AOC and VMQ sparklings wines strongly increased their presence; they also won beautiful medals.

A high-quality award list

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

The international expert judges observe a clear improvement of the quality for almost all the wines productions for AOC designation and Quality Sparkling Wines (VMQ).

News english tasters joined the expert judges of Effervescents du Monde^®. In strong growth since 2004, England has today more than 1.200 hectares of vineyards, mainly intended to product sparkling wines.

In 2011, Spain, Italy and Switzerland obtain many medals. These three countries are very closely followed by Chile, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Hungary and England.

Among the 2011 medals, we will notice in particular England, Argentina and Hungary.

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

The Effervescents du Monde^® competition is organised by the Association Forum Œnologie, in participation with the Revue des Œnologues and 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 were served with active participation from students in the Wine Steward class.

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