Muscats du Monde 2009: An International Opportunity to Establish the Extraordinary Aromatic Diversity of Muscats

The results of the 9^th Edition of the Muscats du Monde^® International Wine Competition, have just been announced. Over the course of two days, international experts tasted 210 Muscats wines from all over the world. The 2009 awards list from Muscat du Monde^® is an opportunity to discover the incomparable palette of aromas that Muscat wines can offer. Strict quality standards and optimal tasting conditions enabled international judges to award 67 medals that are recognised as a reliable criterion for selection.

The 9^th international competition of the world’s best Muscats wines, Muscats du Monde^®, organised by Forum Œnologie, was held on July 17–18, 2009 in the city of Frontignan-la-Peyrade, found in the Languedoc-Roussillon region (France).

For nine years, this international wine competition has recognised the world’s best Muscats wines, awarding reliable and representative medals. Muscats du Monde^® is founded on the conviction that distinctive marks of quality are the key to differentiation and to the promotion of medal-winning wines in a highly competitive and diverse marketplace. Medal-winning wineries can use these medals to market their wines.

Muscats du Monde^® 2009 has united still and sparkling Muscats wines from 24 countries, making this competition one of the world’s top events for Muscats wines. Since its creation, this competition has been a wonderful occasion to taste traditional Muscat wine (VDN: Vin Doux Naturel/Sweet natural Wine) and to follow the development of a wide variety of new wines, highlighting the complexity and aromatic richness of Muscat varieties.

Muscats du Monde^® has carved out a place of its own amongst wine competitions, thanks to its international flavour and its rigorous methods. During the two days of tasting under optimal conditions, international expert judges awarded 67 medals (3 Gold medals of Excellence, 29 Gold and 35 Silver Medals) in accordance with International Wine Competition regulations and in strict compliance with Quality Assurance requirements.

Muscats du Monde^® has progressively distinguished itself from other international competitions thanks to quality standards that are much stricter than the norm and by remaining faithful to its founding principles: diversity, quality and high standards.

Medals distribution Gold Medals of Excellence 3 Gold Medals 29 Silver Medals 35

Awarded Medals count by countries

Top 10 Best Muscats du Monde® 2009
Country	Product	Winery
Spain	Lanzarote do - Stratvs Moscatel Licor	Bodegas Stratvs
France	Muscat de Rivesaltes - Château les Pins 1993	Les vignerons de Baixas - Vignobles Dom Brial
France	Muscat de Rivesaltes - Château Pezilla 2008	Arnaud de Villeneuve
France	Muscat de Beaumes de Venise "Bois doré" 2005	Vignerons de Beaumes de Venise - Balma Venitia
France	Muscat de Mireval "Domaine de Bois Joli" 2008	Cave de Rabelais
France	Muscat de Rivesaltes Dauré	Bourdouil
France	Muscat de Rivesaltes - Gérard Bertrand 2008	Gérard Bertrand
South Africa	Nederburg Private Bin Eminence 2007	Nederburg Wines
France	Muscat de Lunel - Vendanges d'Automne Domaine de St Pierre de Paradis	Les Vignerons du Muscat de Lunel
Portugal	Bacalhoa Moscatel Roxo - Setubal Doc 1999	Bacalhoa-Vinhos de Portugal

• Geographical diversity: With 24 countries entered in the competition, Muscats du Monde® is the strongest Muscats wine concentration ever realized. It is the most significant and legitimate qualitative competition for the distinction of best Muscats of the world.
  
  
• All of the Muscat-producing regions in France were well-represented: Alsace, Corsica, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rhône Valley. Other well-represented countries included Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, as well as countries as far away as South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The participation of countries such as Moldavia, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, Czech Republic and Slovakia was also notable. Two new countries joined the competition: Croatia and Chile.
  
  
  
  
• An International Award List With a Very High-level of Quality
  A very high-level of quality for the 2009 award list: for the first time, 3 Gold Medals of excellence on the Top 10 ranking of the best Muscats 2009.
  
  The Top 10 ranking honours four countries: South Africa, Spain, France and Portugal. The first three places are occupied by Gold medals of Excellence: a Muscat of Lanzarote (Canary islands, Spain) and two Muscats of Rivesaltes (Languedoc Roussillon, France).
  France received 2 Gold Medals of Excellence, 15 Gold medals and 14 Silver medals. Seven French wines made the Top Ten. The Languedoc-Roussillon and Rhône Valley regions took home a number of prestigious medals. In Europe, Portugal, Italy, and Spain distinguished themselves with several medals. Outside Europe, South Africa stood out. The Muscats wines of two new countries, Croatia and Chile, won Silver medals.
  
  
• Diversity of Sensorial Expression
  Each of the wines that distinguished themselves at Muscat du monde^® did so because of their own distinctive quality, and not in comparison with other wines. This event is an unique opportunity to bring together and discover a wide variety of Muscats wines in all their forms: dry, sweet, still, sparkling, with pink to dark red shades. According to expert judges, this extraordinarily rich group of wines demonstrated a level of sensory complexity rarely encountered with other wines.
  Several marks of quality Gold and Silver medals were awarded to botrytised, late harvest and special selections. A wide variety of dry, off-dry, sweet, still, sparkling, young, age-worthy wines received favourable notice.
  Incontestably, the 2009 Award List honours naturally sweet and VDN (Sweet Natural Wine) Muscats.

Muscats du Monde^® is organised by the Association Forum Œnologie with participation from the Revue des Œnologues and in partnership with:

• The city of Frontignan-la-Peyrade
• The Services Actions Qualité company for competition-related computing services.

An organisation with highly reputed partners:
	City of Frontignan la Peyrade
	La Revue des Œnologues - International Technical Magazine about Wine and Vine - Technical and Communication Partner.
	DHL Express - Official Partner for International Deliveries.
	SAQ - Services Actions Qualité - Expert Translation Services for the Wine and Grape Industries - Technical Partner.