The 31st edition of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles wrapped up last week in Guanajuato. The results are officially announced, with the host country, Mexico, breaking into the top 5 in terms of the number of medals won. China is also making a strong showing with significant progress, and South Africa continues its upward trend.
Uruguay and Romania have taken the two major international revelations with a red wine and a white wine, respectively. The winners include wines from all five continents, encompassing both historical wine-producing countries and some more surprising origins like Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Peru.
Here are the Revelations:
From June 7 to 9, the world’s largest traveling wine competition brought together experts from across the international wine sector in Guanajuato, Mexico, to taste nearly 7,500 red and white wines from 42 countries. All wines were blind tasted by a panel of wine experts (buyers, journalists, wine merchants, oenologists, etc.) carefully selected by the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, representing 45 nationalities. Of all the wines presented, only 30% will take home a medal.
“It is a real satisfaction to have gathered so many wines for this new edition despite a challenging global context. It proves that producers still want to place their trust in us, and we are honored by it!” said Thomas Costenoble, director of the CMB.
International Revelations
The highest-scoring white wine of this year’s competition is the Issa Chardonnay Barrique 2022 – a Romanian white wine produced in Transylvania by Crama La Salina. The highest-rated red wine comes from Uruguay – the Balasto 2017 produced by Everest Wines and Spirits.
The “No Low” Revelations
One of the new features of this 2024 edition was the creation of the Revelations for the best no-low wines (completely or partially de-alcoholized wines, de-alcoholized wine-based beverages, and others). The winners are Divin – Sauvignon Blanc 0.0% 2023 from Divin No-Low in Loire (France) and the Portuguese “Lower alcohol” wine Lagosta from Enopnort Wines.
Organic and wooded Revelations
The Sylvain Trophy, awarded each year to the highest-scoring wooded wine, goes in 2024 to an Italian wine, Starderi 2020 from Collina Serragrilli. The highest-rated organic wine is from Spain for the second consecutive year: this time, it is a wine from Navarra, Arínzano Merlot Agricultura Biológica 2019 produced by Arinzano.
Bordeaux in the lead
Among the major French wine-producing regions, Bordeaux is the most represented and rewarded region in the competition with 189 medal-winning wines. Gironde also takes home the French Red Wine Revelation with Château Terres Blanches Cuvée Carpe Diem 2022. Another Grand Gold Medal goes to a Bordeaux wine, Château Le Bonalguet Cosecha 2023 from Bonalgue Saint-Germain.
China and Mexico stand out, South Africa progresses
These three nations continue to demonstrate their dynamism in the numbers. Of the 663 wines presented by Mexican producers, 152 won medals (including 9 Grand Gold Medals), a record. South African wines continue to improve in quality with a significant increase in the number of Grand Gold Medals (6) and Gold Medals (35). As for China, no less than 40% of the wines presented won a medal, including 6 Grand Gold Medals and 83 Gold Medals!
This sets the stage for the next Red & White Wines Session of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, which will take place in June 2025 in Ningxia, China. It will be the second time the Concours is held in China, following the 2018 edition.
The results can be found here: https://results.concoursmondial.com/en/results/2024