The 2018 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB), the world’s only touring wine competition which is dubbed as “The United Nations of Fine Wines”, has just concluded in Beijing of China. During the three-day period (May 11 – 13, 2018), the CMB’s panel of judges was having a busy task to taste 9,000+ wines for selecting the award winners of various categories. The crown of laurel for the “closure” category that all the wines participated was won by a widely expected closure type – cork stopper.
Over 9,180 wines from 48 countries have been entered this year in this year’s CMB, marking an increase compared to last year. These wines were being judged by over 330 journalists, buyers, oenologists and sommeliers. The 2018 CMB in Beijing is the first time a wine competition of this magnitude and significance is held in Asia.
According to the closures of all the entry wines collected by the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR), a sponsor of the 2018 CMB, an overwhelming over 95% of these entries use cork stopper as closure.
“This exceptionally strong preference towards cork stopper shouldn’t be a big surprise. Every year, over 70% of the wines produced worldwide are sealed with cork stopper. Cork stopper’s dominance in the premium wine category is even more significant. As the 2018 CMB is staged in China where premium wines are constantly being sought after, logically wine producers would furnish their top offerings, which are overwhelmingly cork stopper, as entries,” said Carlos de Jesus, Operational Director of InterCork program of APCOR.
The “China factor” insight of Carlos de Jesus is also echoed by the CMB organizer.
After the increase of 112.5% in entries from China in 2017 vs. 2016, the country posts another rise in 2018, this time of 90.2% compared to 2017. Organic entries in CMB showed a tremendous increase of nearly 60% compared to 2017, accounting for almost 12% of the total number of wines in 2018. Most of the organic wine samples come from Italy, France, Spain, and China. In fact, over one third of all Chinese entries in the CMB in 2018 are organic and biodynamic. Baudouin Havaux, Chairman of the CMB, believes the trend is due to Chinese consumers’ perception of organic wines as a guarantee of higher quality, which encourages wineries to produce organic.
“This also explains why cork stopper is also strongly preferred by Chinese wine consumers. Cork is 100% natural and is always associated with fine wines,” added Carlos de Jesus.
Portuguese Cork Association
Represents and promotes the Portuguese Cork Industry. It is an employers’ association, of national scope, founded in 1956 and based in the north of Portugal. APCOR’s mission is to promote and develop cork as a raw material of excellence, as well as all cork-based products. Cork stoppers are the most famous product of the cork industry, with more than 12 billion bottles of wine closed every year with cork. The cork stopper has been the closure par excellence of wine for many years due to its unique properties – helping to best preserve the natural characteristics of wine as well as offering a quality, premium wine drinking experience. The environmental benefits of cork stoppers, which are natural, re-usable and recyclable, have also contributed to it being the closure of choice for over 70% of wine producers.
For more information, please visit us at http://www.apcor.pt/en/ (English) or http://www.mygreencork.com/ (Chinese).