2017 Edition: And the World’s Best Wine is...

The 8th edition of the Lyon International Competition took place on Saturday, 25 March 2017, at the Cité Internationale in Lyon.
The 2017 edition demonstrated that the Competition is a rising star: 5800 wines were tasted! 800 tasters from France and around the world gathered to bestow 900 Gold and 977 Silver medals on the best wines.

With 550 samples tasted, beers and spirits were also well-represented at the event. In all, 170 medals were awarded this year.

‘World’s Best Wine’ elected for the first time

This year the Lyon International Competition set up a special award for the ‘World’s Best Wine’.
At the conclusion of the tasting on March 25, the best wines from each country (27 vintages in all) were blind-tasted again by a prestigious jury:
-       Gaëtan Bouvier
Best Sommelier in France 2016, Head Sommelier at the Villa Florentine (1 Michelin star) and the Lyon International Competition’s honorary president for 2017
-       Alain Rosier
World’s Best Sommelier 1986 (Bronze Medal), Best Sommelier in France 1976
-       Maryse Allarousse
Best Sommelier in France 1980, Semi-finalist in the competition for the World’s Best Sommelier 1992
-       Laurent Derhé
Meilleur Ouvrier de France Sommelier (Best Sommelier in France) 2007, President of the Association des Sommeliers Lyonnais et Rhône-Alpes
-       Denis Verneau
Meilleur Ouvrier de France Sommelier (Best Sommelier in France) 2015, Head sommelier at ‘La Mère Brazier’ restaurant (2 Michelin stars).

True professionals, clearly knowledgeable, always in search of perfection–yet also attuned to the pleasure and emotion that the taste of a wine can produce.
At this second blind-tasting, sommeliers on the expert jury unanimously selected a German wine:

Goldbach 100% Chardonnay 2015 vintage from Weingut Kress

Gaëtan Bouvier commented on the tasting:
“White wine with a pale yellow robe and greenish reflections, signs of extreme youth, the vintage seems to be more in a primary register.
The disk is brilliant, with a good density, the wine forms a number of generous tears, synonymous with fine work on the raw materials.
An engaging nose, clean, extremely pleasing and immediate. Presents varied aromas, though it remains in the primary register, very rich, very pleasing.
There is a note of lemon, almonds, bitter almond milk. There are also herbal tea notes–linden and verbena. Chamomile also reveals itself, moving toward a floral register, with notes that bloom a bit on the nose.
The attack on the palate is supple, very seductive. It’s the voluptuous tactile sensation that attracts, and the freshness that then rekindles the very first impression of generosity.
This freshness is going to develop; it’s going to structure the wine, kind of like rafters for a roof. Then all the aromas will come out, fairly close to what we smelled on the nose. It has potential, it’s vibrating. We have a very well-structured wine here.
The finish is mouth-watering, almost saline, and remarkably clean.
It’s a wine that I will soon have the pleasure of putting on the wine list.”

Useful links
To contact the producer of the ‘World’s Best Wine’ 2017:
https://www.concourslyon.com/fiche-vin-25996-weingut-kress-goldbach.html

To find out more about the competition:
www.concourslyon.com

Reminder on figures
5800 wines and 550 beers and spirits tasted
800 tasters present
951 Gold Medals
1096 Silver Medals