Spanish wines won a total of 390 of the 1,778 medals awarded in the latest edition of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, held in Bordeaux for the very first time. This number represents close to 22 percent of the trophies, revealing Spanish wine’s outstanding success in the competition, where in addition, nine Spanish wines won the maximum accolade; nine of the 58 Grand Gold Medals granted to the prize-winners.

In this the competition’s 2008 edition, its 240 expert tasters awarded a Grand Gold Medal to two wines under DO Navarra (‘Agnes de Cleves Crianza 2004’ and ‘Pago de Cirsus Selección de Familia Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon 2004’), two under DO Ribera del Duero (‘Barón del Valle Crianza 2004’ and ‘Comenge 2004’), one under DO Cariñena (‘Carinvs 2006’), one under DO Cava (‘Gramona Impérial 2004’), one under DO Montilla-Moriles (‘Selección Robles 1927 Pedro Ximenez Saca Especial’), one under DO Valencia (‘Murviedro Reserva 2004’) and one under DO Vinos de Madrid (‘Puerta de Alcalá Reserva 2004’).

Spanish wines also won 121 Gold Medals and 260 Silver Medals from the total of 547 and 1,173 medals awarded respectively.

In this year’s edition, tastings for 6,189 wines and spirits were carried out, of which 1,212 were samples taken from twenty Spanish wine regions.

Since 1994, the expert jury at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, leader among international competitions, has employed the utmost integrity when granting awards to the best wines. The competition is a forerunner in the field of sensory evaluation aimed at providing winemakers with a guarantee of the highest rigour, efficiency and equality when bestowing its medals. The competition’s accolades symbolise a highly respected certification of quality and are much sought after by buyers and consumers alike.

The competition’s next edition will be held in the Spanish city of Valencia from 25th to 27th April 2009.