The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships received entries from across the world, including Hungary, Brazil, Chile and South Africa, but it was France that took home the big awards.
Louis Roederer were the stand out winners at last night’s Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships awards dinner picking up both the Supreme World Champion award for its Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in magnum as well as being named Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year 2018.
The event was the culmination of the 2018 competition following the announcement in July of the medal winning Champagnes and sparkling wines that included 116 Golds and 128 Silvers. France took its leading position of medal winners, including 47 Gold and 36 Silvers, into the trophy presentations.
The Harrow’s Roger Jones, and ambassador for CSWWC, celebrating with Louis Roederer’s Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon
Whilst clearly it has the advantage of being the only country to produce Champagne the other sparkling categories were contested amongst a much wider list of competing countries with entries for this year’s competition. The bulk of the entries, 75%, came from the US, UK, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Eastern Europe, Hungary and South Africa.
In total 25 trophies were awarded last night, as well as 68 Best in Class winners, including nine National Champions, seven World Champions by style and the Chairman’s Trophy, presented this year to Dominique Demarville, Chef de Caves of Veuve Clicquot.
The announcements took place in front of a ‘who’s who’ gathering of over 150 international winemakers, producers and journalists at the annual Awards Dinner in Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London.
The evening also saw a number of Lifetime Achievement Awards made to recognise the lives and influence of the late Thierry Roset of Champagne Charles Heidsieck, and the late Michel Salgues, sparkling wine consultant. Other Lifetime Achievement awards were given to Thierry Gasco of Champagne Pommery, Jean-Paul Gandon of Champagne Lanson, Hervé Deschamps of Maison Perrier-Jouet, Richard Geoffroy of Champagne Dom Perignon, Loïc Dupont of Champagne Taittinger, François Domi of Champagne Billecart-Salmon and Ed Carr of House of Arras.
Tom Stevenson, founder of the competition and head judge, said they had all been chosen “for the effort, dedication and sheer brilliance that each have contributed to the history, development and success of the sparkling wine world as it is today”.
He added: “We have been really impressed by the standard of Champagnes and sparkling wines that have entered this year. The bar was set high from day one and the medal count certainly reflects this. We were delighted to see Louis Roederer Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon collect the ultimate crown for their NV Brut Premier.”
“It is our mission not just to promote world class wines, but also to discover and reward new and exciting wines from established and emerging regions across the world, so I was particularly pleased to present Carassia from Romania with the World Champion Rising Star trophy.”
Tom Stevenson announcing the winners
He added: “Although we stick rigidly to recognising and publishing only Gold and Silver medals, to ensure that each and every winning wine is very special, we also want to encourage those producers of Bronze level quality wines from emerging regions or established regions with very little history of sparkling wine production. It’s very hard for isolated producers to gauge how they are progressing when they have no local competition of world-class quality. This is where the CSWWC brings added value, providing exclusive feedback and consistent, objective and authoritative assessment from the same three specialist sparkling wine judges each year. To extend this theme further, we have introduced a new ‘Rising Star’ trophy, which should make the recipient’s exceptional progress stand out in the market place.”
The full World Champions by Style and National Champions for 2018 are:
World Champion Classic Brut from a Non-Traditional Grape 2018 – Kreinbacher 2013 Prestige Brut in Magnum
World Champion Rising Star 2018 – Carassia, Castelec, Romania
World Champion Classic Brut Non-Vintage Blend 2018 – Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum
World Champion Classic Brut Vintage Blend 2018 – Moët & Chandon 2009 Grand Vintage
World Champion Classic Blanc de Blancs 2018 – Ruinart NV Blanc de Blancs in Magnum
World Champion Classic Rosé 2018 – Louis Roederer 2010 Brut Rosé in Magnum
World Champion Library Vintage 2018 – Piper-Heidsieck 1998 Rare in Magnum
Best Argentine Sparkling Wine 2018 – Chandon 2015 Barón B Brut Nature
Best Australian Sparkling Wine 2018 – Chandon NV Brut
Best English Sparkling Wine 2018 – Camel Valley 2015 Pinot Noir Rosé Brut
Best French Sparkling Wine 2018 – Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum
Best Hungarian Sparkling Wine 2018 – Kreinbacher 2013 Prestige Brut in Magnum
Best Italian Sparkling Wine 2018 – Guido Berlucchi 2011 ’61 Nature in Magnum
Best New Zealand Sparkling Wine 2018 – Hunter’s 2013 MiruMiru Reserve
Best South African Sparkling Wine 2018 – Domaine des Dieux 2012 Claudia Brut
Best US Sparkling Wine 2018 – Roederer Estate NV Rose
Regional Champions 2018
Best Loire Valley Sparkling Wine 2018 – Bouvet 2015 Trésor Saumur Brut Blanc
Best Non-Deluxe Champagne 2018 – Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum
Best Deluxe Champagne 2018 – Louis Roederer 2002 Cristal in Magnum
Best Champagne 2018 – Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum
Best French Sparkling Wine 2018 – Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum
Best Prosecco 2018 – Nino Franco 2017 Vigneto Della Riva di San Floriano
Best Franciacorta 2018 – Guido Berlucchi 2011 ’61 Nature in Magnum
Best Trentodoc 2018 – Cantina Aldeno 2014 Trentodoc Altinum Brut in Magnum
The CSWWC only has three judges, as well as Stevenson, they include Essi Avellan MW and Dr Tony Jordan. To find out a full list of winners and the medal winning wines go to www.champagnesparklingwwc.com or contact Rachel Davey on rachel@cswwc.com for more information.
