The main trends at the 2011 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles

No two Concours Mondial de Bruxelles are alike. Uncorking over 7,000 bottles from across the globe for almost 300 international judges over three days makes it a unique event. As a barometer for gauging the vitality of the sector, it provides a snapshot of the international wine and vine industry that is updated annually. It throws up new trends and consolidates change. The Luxembourg event has thus already confirmed:

• France’s predominant position with 2,405 entries. Bordeaux is still the most dynamic region, followed by Languedoc-Roussillon.
• Spain’s export drive. It ranks second with almost 1,500 wines and spirits entered. Rioja and Castila and Leon are joint first, closely followed by Catalonia and La Mancha.
• An underlying international trend towards varietal specialisation:

- out of 973 Spanish red wines entered, 610 are predominantly or exclusively made from the Tempranillo variety,

- out of 469 Italian red wines entered, 120 are made primarily from Sangiovese

- out of 414 Portuguese red wines entered, 60 are made primarily from the Touriga Nacional variety. Portugal champions varietal diversity at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles with over 33 different varieties entered.

- Lastly, 30% of Chilean red wines are Carmeneres – for the first time, this flagship Chilean variety has outstripped the traditional Cabernet-Sauvignon.

• On a more general level, a trend towards rounder, more supple wines has been witnessed. A case in point is France where the predominant variety is Merlot, either as a single varietal or blended (720 wines out of a total 1,538 red wines entered compared with just 180 wines made primarily from Cabernet-Sauvignon or 110 from Syrah).
• Finally, average ABV is on the rise and stands at 13.28% in 2011 compared with 13.09% in 2006 and approximately 12.8% in 2000… This is a key indicator at a time when changes in ripeness, sunshine hours and overall climate change are under scrutiny.

 

 

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