The 8th Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, which this year took place in Bordeaux, France, has just ended following two days of tastings and meetings between journalists, buyers, winemakers and producers from France and across the globe.
Organised by the Bordeaux & Bordeaux Supérieur producers’ organisation and by the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon was attended by 65 French and international judges divided between 12 panels.
“As soon as it travels to different places, Sauvignon takes on a local flavour” said Denis Dubourdieu and nowhere was this comment truer than at this year’s competition with over 850 wines from 22 countries entered.
Since its inception in 2010, Denis Dubourdieu had been the patron of the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon. He revolutionised the way white wines were made and matured in Bordeaux, defending refined, elegant and fresh wine styles over short-lived fashions. His style, marked by great aromatic purity and favouring complexity over power, is easily recognisable in his wines.
One of the fathers of modern oenology, Denis Dubourdieu was born in Barsac in 1949 to a family of wine growers. After studying to be an agricultural engineer, he pursued a career as an academic, becoming an oenology researcher alongside Professor Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon, with whom he co-wrote, with other researchers, the Handbook of Oenology. In 1982, he completed his Ph. D. thesis on the macromolecular composition of noble rot wines. In 1987, he began lecturing in oenology at the University of Bordeaux then in 2009 became director of the newly-founded Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences.
Throughout his career, he effortlessly combined his roles as an admired lecturer, renowned researcher and also respected producer and consultant winemaker in Bordeaux and abroad. His expertise was immense, his legacy is boundless.
As a tribute to this great man, the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon has decided to award a special Denis Dubourdieu Trophy to the wine showing the purest and most refined Sauvignon expression. This year’s recipient is Kranachberg Sauvignon Blanc 2015 produced by Skoff Original from South Styria
