August 23: Chandon Brut NV won a Gold Medal whereas its Rose Brut Variant a Silver medal as did Fratelli Brut JCB 47 at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) 2019 with a record number of 185 Golds and 212 Silver medals awarded to participants from 18 countries including India, with Italy bagging more medals than France for the first time since it was founded in 2014 by Tom Stevenson with Assi Avellan MW and Dr. Tony Jordan joining him
The world’s most prestigious sparkling wine competition, CSWWC has had a record breaking year with a total of 185 Gold & 212 Silver medals awarded to 18 countries, including India which managed 3 medals this year. Chandon India scored a Gold for its Chandon NV Brut (70% Chenin Blanc, 15% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir) with (10gm or residual sugar Chandon NV Brut Rosé scored a Silver for its 100% Shiraz (12 gms residual sugar. Fratelli NV Brut JCB N° 47, a 100% Chardonnay with 12gms res. sugar also won a Silver. All 3 have declared 12.5%v alc. For details of all the medal winners visit:
For the first time since the championships began in 2014, Italy has overtaken France to claim the largest-ever national haul of medals, with 71 Golds and 92 Silvers. Champagne once again breezed home as the most award-winning region with 61 Golds and 49 Silvers. Franciacorta racked-up 26 Golds, which would have been an all-time record for any Italian region at the CSWWC but lost closely to Trentodoc’s 27 Golds, thanks to Ferrari. Both these regions make champagne styled wines but with different terroir.
With an incredible 15 Gold medals, Ferrari was declared the Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year for 2019 as the highest Gold medal winning producer with Louis Roederer close on its heels. With 16 Golds English sparkling wines almost doubled their 2018 tally of Golds.
Tom Stevenson, Founder Chairman of the CSWWC and an acknowledged expert on bubblies, said “Over the last six years I have tried to encourage producers to focus their entries on potential Gold and Silver medal winning wines. That does not necessarily mean their most expensive and prestigious products. We want to taste prestige cuvées, if they have the potential, but if they consistently fail at the CSWWC and their entry-level cuvées regularly win Gold, then I try to persuade them to save their money and focus on their high-performing entry-level wines.”
“One of the highlights of 2019 was the significant number of top Lambrusco entries. Bad Lambrusco justifiably gets a bad press, but a high-quality brut Lambrusco can be full of bright fruit underscored by ripe tannins, making it a revelation at the table,’ says Tom adding further, ‘. We have given 7 Gold and 7 Silver medals to Lambrusco this year and I challenge any fizz fanatic who has not been enamoured by Lambrusco in the past, not to at least recognise the difference in the quality of our winners.’
“Another surprise this year was the Gold and two Silvers that went to a new kid on the block- Bulgaria. Straight out of the starting blocks with magnums of every single cuvée produced! Exciting discovery! Another is keeping track of all the established greats, seeing if they come through the totally blind process with Golds year after year,” said Stevenson.
No Bronze Medals but...
CSWWC does not officially award Bronze medals but the organisers take a keen interest in ‘theoretical’ Bronze winners. With a Bronze from a classic sparkling wine appellation, it is easy for producers to submit a magnum the next year and almost always ensure a Silver or even a Gold because the difference in quality between a regular 75cl bottle and a magnum of effectively the same wine is truly that great. However, when a Bronze is from a relatively obscure, unknown or untested region, they have virtually no local expertise to assist them, so it is important for those producers to understand that they could be on the verge of achieving a world class sparkling wine.
‘We make the notes for such wines exclusively available to their producers on a confidential basis and recommend they use this feedback to fine-tune their improvements. The competition becomes a record of their progress and, hopefully, it will eventually lead to Silver or Gold medal.’ There were 281 theoretical Bronze medal wines this year.
They even issue certificates on request, not the medal since they want to encourage producers of Bronze level wines.
Panel of Judges
Professionalism and Competence is the key USP of the CSWWC; all wines entered are tasted and evaluated by the same 3 judges who are recognised specialists in judging sparkling wines. All of them must agree on the medals awarded.
Some of the world’s greatest wine tasters struggle when tasting large numbers of Champagnes and other sparkling wines. It has nothing to do with their tasting skills, and everything to do with the number of wines of this style that they taste regularly on a professional basis.
According to Tom Stevenson, Founder & Chair of The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships “Essi Avellan MW and Tony Jordan are the two greatest and most consistent specialist Champagne and sparkling wine tasters I have encountered, and I have tasted literally thousands of Champagnes with both of them. Essi is the most naturally gifted Champagne taster I have seen, while Tony’s experience and technical understanding of sparkling wines is unsurpassed.”
“I don’t think anyone could criticise the qualifications of the judges of Tom Stevenson’s new fizz competition” affirms Jancis Robinson.
Congratulations to Chandon India and Fratelli Vineyards for winning those medals and getting India in the winners list. They might take the advice of Tom Stevenson and start making Magnums, ensuring Gold and offering a better product at the same time with practically no extra efforts.
For a previous related Article, please visit
Bronzes for Chandon India at CSWWC London 2017
Subhash Arora
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