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World Champion trophy by style that is not won every year. In fact, this trophy was not awarded for the first five years. Ferarri’s Perlé Nero was the first to succeed in 2019 and then again in 2021. Our Lifetime Achievement recipient, Alain Pailley of Alexandre Bonnet, won it in 2020, and now we have Palmer pairing up with trophies for both its blanc de blancs and its blanc de noirs. This wine’s pristine aromas demonstrate fine, controlled, and smooth evolution with toasty notes. The fruit is clean, rich, and silky, cradled by a soft mousse, with great length, complex biscuity aromas building, and a long, lingering freshness on the finish. This is just so lovely. If I had to sum up this wine in just one word, it would have to be “sumptuous.” Smart viticulture and gifted winemaking in every sense.
WORLD CHAMPION CLASSIC ROSÉ The shortlist: BEST IN CLASS ENGLISH ROSÉ VINTAGE Gusbourne 2018 Rosé BEST IN CLASS CHAMPAGNE NV Rosé Henriot NV Rosé in Magnum BEST IN CLASS FRANCIACORTA ROSÉ VINTAGE Mosnel 2016 Parosé BEST IN CLASS TRENTODOC ROSÉ VINTAGE Ferrari Trento 2016 Perle Rosé Riserva BEST IN CLASS NEW ZEALAND ROSÉ NV No.1 Family Estate NV Rosé BEST IN CLASS ROMANIAN ROSÉ NV Carassia NV Rosé in Magnum BEST IN CLASS CALIFORNIA ROSÉ VINTAGE Caraccioli 2016 Brut Rosé
The winner:
Henriot NV Rosé in Magnum Champagne, France (150cl, 12% ABV) 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 10% Meunier (Rosé, 7g/l RS)
It was only after the competition had finished and I was auditing the whole process that I discovered this wine nearly wasn’t entered, and then, when it was, it nearly didn’t turn up. Essi had recommended that Henriot should enter this magnum, believing that it would excel. Then when the wine did not turn up, there was a lot of effort behind the scenes to chase up delivery. Good thing, too, because but for others, this superb Champagne would not have received the trophy it truly deserved. Invitingly pale peachy color, with a super-toasty nose and beautifully balanced, silky red-fruit driven palate, linear structure, long finish, and great finesse on the aftertaste, this is textbook rosé.
WORLD CHAMPION SPARKLING RED
Cleto Chiarli 2021 Vecchia Modena Premium in Magnum See Regional Lambrusco Trophy.
WORLD CHAMPION SPARKLING AROMATIC
Cuvage NV Acquesi Asti See Regional Asti Trophy.
32 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
WORLD CHAMPION LIBRARY VINTAGE
House of Arras 2001 Museum Release Blanc de Blancs Tasmania, Australia (75cl, 12.7% ABV) 96% Chardonnay, 4% Pinot Noir (White, 3g/l RS)
This is the very first time World Champion Library Vintage Trophy has gone to a sparkling wine beyond the boundary of Champagne. If I have told them once, I have told them a dozen times: If anyone could snatch this trophy away from the Champenois, it would be Arras or Ferarri—and Arras got there first. I had written, “Classic aged Aussie blanc de blancs” in my notes, but that’s a lie because very few Australian blanc de blancs can age as beautifully as this. I should have written, “Classic aged Ed Carr blanc de blancs,” but competition judging is not a guessing game. This is a wine of contradiction; it is evolved yet fresh, it is energetic yet soft, and it is rounded by age yet crisp and vibrant. It is full of toasty richness and massive fruit, with wheat and dried-fruit yeast-complexed aromas.
WORLD CHAMPION TONY JORDAN RISING STAR
Kettmeir
This trophy has to go to Kettmeir for breaking the monopoly that Franciacorta and Trentodoc have held on the Best Italian Sparkling Wine title since the first CSWWC competition in 2014. If it was not easy to steal this trophy, it will be even harder to keep hold of it, because both those classic sparkling-wine appellations will fight even harder to take it back.
this year’s competition. He could not compete for Best in Class Grower Champagne (won by Gabriel Merreaux NV Brut) because, for tax purposes, he is registered as a négociant- manipulant. He is a grower, however, in all but business classification, because every single one of his wines comes exclusively from his own vineyards. I think he and Alain Pailley should get together with other like- thinking growers to form not a club of grandes marques but a club of great domaine-bottled Champagnes. In the meantime, I will help them on their way with this hugely deserved trophy. This classy wine is rich and linear. I love its sweet, fruity, slowly evolving nose, its beautifully textured, silky fruit, and its long, tapering finish. It is zippy and zingy, with seductive very chalky notes, a soft, cushiony lovely mousse, and a finish that shows great finesse.
SPARKLING WINE PRODUCER OF THE YEAR The winner:
Ferrari Trentodoc
Well, we all knew who the recipient of this trophy was going to be as soon as the medals were announced, because it is not some cooked- up award pondered over by a jury behind closed doors; it’s the clear-cut result of having achieved the highest number of gold medals. And since Ferrari has won it more years than any other producer (only Louis Roederer comes close), it is undeniably a testament not only to its quality but also to its consistency.
CHAIRMAN'S TROPHY The winner:
Bernard Lonclas NV Grand Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne, France (75cl, 12% ABV) 100% Chardonnay (White, 7g/l RS)
Bernard Lonclas NV Grand Brut Blanc de Blancs receives the Chairman’s Trophy because he was one of two standouts in a recent tasting organized for me by the Syndicat Général des Vignerons, and indeed this was one of the most mesmerizing Champagnes I tasted at
SUPREME WORLD CHAMPION The shortlist: BEST AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING WINE Swift 2011 Blanc de Blancs BEST BULGARIAN SPARKLING WINE Midalidare Estate NV Sparkling Wine Gold in Magnum BEST ENGLISH SPARKLING WINE Simpsons Wine Estate 2018 Flint Fields Blanc de Noirs BEST FRENCH SPARKLING WINE Dom Ruinart 2010 Blanc de Blancs BEST HUNGARIAN SPARKLING WINE Sauska NV Brut in Magnum BEST ITALIAN SPARKLING WINE Kettmeir 2018 Athesis Brut in Magnum BEST ROMANIAN SPARKLING WINE Carassia NV Rosé in Magnum BEST SPANISH SPARKLING WINE Freixenet NV Cordon Negro Brut in Magnum BEST US SPARKLING WINE Caraccioli 2016 Blanc de Blancs
The winner:
Dom Ruinart 2010 Blanc de Blancs This is the first time since 2015 (our second competition, when magnums were relatively rare among the entries) that a 75cl bottle has won Supreme World Champion. See Regional Deluxe Champagne Trophy.
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