Five wines from three domestic wineries succeeded in this year’s world competition for the best wine of the Chardonnay variety. Winemakers from 32 countries submitted a total of 546 wines to the jury.
Five trip awards to the Czech Republic, including the absolute championship. The silver medal was the end-of-harvest gift of the 2019 Chardonnay Sur-Lie from Mikulov’s Víno Lípa company barrique barrels.
The company B \ V Vinařství z Ratíškovice has a silver medal for the 2017 Chardonnay Reserva Barrique and a product of the same designation, only a year younger, has a gold medal and rose to fifth place in the ranking of the Top Ten world’s best wines of this variety.
The judges judged two silent wines from Krumvíř. Chardonnay 2019 Vinařství Josef Valihrach has a silver medal and a three-year-old sample, 2016 Chardonnay has gold, and he also holds first place in the Top Ten.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was gentle,” admits Josef Valihrach. Over the past twelve years, his wines have appeared in first to fifth place in the ranking of the best Chardonnays in the world.
In first place three times, the first time in 2014, the second time the previous year and the third time this year. He missed last year’s competition. “I will repeat myself, this result means a lot to me. No competition has more stringent rules, not only for the evaluation itself, but only for the selection of evaluators. This is truly the most guarded competition in all respects, the more I appreciate the success,” said Valihrach.
Even after the first absolute victory, he considered whether to participate further, but he didn’t want to rule out the possibility of comparing his own work with the best in the world. And he doesn’t regret it. His son, Josef Valihrach Jr., has tried to be a judge of the famous competition and has verified firsthand that nominations among the judges are not free.
The 29th Chardonnay du Monde, a competition for wines of the same variety, takes place from 9 to 11 March 2022 at the Château des Ravatys, the Institut Pasteur winery in Saint Lager near Lyon, France. The jury awarded 56 gold and 122 silver medals.
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