The “Oscar of sparkling wines”, the contest founded by Tom Stevenson and held annually in England is undoubtedly the most prestigious sparkling wine championship. The medal winners were published earlier, however the world champions were announced only last Friday. Spain has won the world cup in two categories! Congratulations to Maset and Gramona!
Italy took the lead
Altogether there were 15 special prizes at the 10th Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championship, and out of this:
– 7 went to Italy
– 4 went to Champagne
– 2 to Spain
– 1 to England (Gusbourne)
– 1 to Romania (Carassia)
At the jubilee edition of the contest 1000 sparkling wines from 19 different countries were judged over 11 days. A total of 170 gold medals (almost 18%) and 218 silver medals were awarded and all the gold and silver 2023 medal winners can be found below on the link. “Italy took the top of the leader board for the most medals triumphing with 74 gold and 117 silver medals – more than half the silver medal total going to Italy. Next was France who took home 43 gold medals and 48 silver medals. England narrowly took third place on the medal leader board with 11 gold and 15 silver medals closely followed by Australia and Spain who each achieved 11 gold & 11 silver medals for their respective countries.” (From CSWWC press release.)
See the list of medal winners here
And the Spanish (Catalan) winners are…
World Champion Organic Sparkling Wine 2023: Maset Wines 2020 Nu Reserva Organic
Though the CSWWC website does not make it clear, this organic sparkling wine is brut nature and it is a cava (it belongs to Cava DO). The cava is made of Xarel·lo grape, the local, Penedés flagship wine and it aged 24 months on the lees. As the winery says about the wine: “without artifice; pure, genuine, and authentic; respectfully expressing all the grape’s flavour and aromas. It is the past, it is the present, but above all, it is preserving tomorrow. Our highest duty is to the earth, and to those who will work it after us.”
More about Maset
World Champion Biodynamic Sparkling Wine 2023: Gramona 2017 Imperial Magnum
Though CSWWC website does not reveal it, Gramona is a corpinnat, so it does not belong to Cava DO, however, it is one of the 12 corpinnat estates in Penedés, with the strictest sparkling rules in the world. “2017 is the first Demeter-certified vintage of all the plots producing the four grape varieties for the blend of this historic sparkling wine.” The wine is made of Xarel·lo, Macabeo, Parellada and Chardonnay, each vinified separately. 2017 Imperial Magnum was aged for 60 months to achieve the unmistakable “Gramona” character with fresh fruits along with yeasty tones and unique flavours from the reserve wines of the dosage.
More about Gramona
If you want to visit Maset or Gramona, contact us, we are happy to help you!
