Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships
Louis Roederer swept the board at last night’s Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships Awards Dinner, being crowned Supreme World Champion for the Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier in Magnum and taking the gong for Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year 2018. 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.
Founder and head judge Tom Stevenson said: “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.”
2018 was a ground-breaking year for the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships in terms of the increase in entries from USA, UK, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Eastern Europe, Hungary and South Africa which averaged in excess of 75% of the entries. A total of 25 trophies were awarded from 68 Best in Class winners, including 9 National Champions, 7 World Champions by Style and the Chairman’s Trophy, presented this year to Dominique Demarville, Chef de Caves of Veuve Clicquot.
The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, for the first time, also made Lifetime Achievement Awards to the late Thierry Roset of Champagne Charles Heidsieck, the late Michel Salgues, Sparkling Wine Consultant, whose award was collected by his daughter Anne Salgues, 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. Stevenson praised each and every one 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.
Stevenson went on to say said, “However 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.
“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 is the most respected, comprehensive and rigorous international sparkling wine competition in the world, judged exclusively by renowned fizz experts Tom Stevenson, Essi Avellan MW and Dr Tony Jordan. More details of the Trophy, Best in Class and Medal winning wines are available from www.champagnesparklingwwc.com.
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For further information, quotes from Tom Stevenson or photographs from the evening, please contact: Rachel Davey on rachel@cswwc.com
