Bordeaux takes top prize, Ticino winery named world champion

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Earl Roumage winery in St Germain du Puch, France, won both the Best Merlot Varietal (single grape) and the Best Foreign Varietal Merlot prizes at the Mondial du Merlot wine competition, the Vinea Association in Sierre announced Friday 28 September.

Cantina Monti from Cademorio in canton Ticino won the Syngenta Merlot World Champion prize, given to the wine that has  the highest number of points over three vintages.

The Best Swiss Varietal Merlot went to the Hammel winery in Rolle, canton Vaud, for its Villeneuve wine from Vaud’s Chablais region.

La Romaine winery in Flantey, canton Valais, won the prize for the best blend and the Tilleuls winery in Vétroz, canton Valais won the Vinofed prize for the gold medal wine on which the judges most closely agreed.

The Older Vintages prize went to Clos St Thomas, Kab-Elias, in Lebanon.

The awards were given to wines from a number of different production areas: of the 25 gold medals, 16 went to Swiss wines, 6 to French, 2 to Romanian and one to a Lebanese wine.

The competition is one of the relatively smaller international ones, reflecting Merlot‘s unusual role in the wine world. This Bordeaux grape from the Cabernet Franc family has long been used by the French, mainly in Bordeaux blends, but its status as a grape for varietal wines has been low. Elsewhere, it has great popularity in some markets as a varietal wine, and in canton Ticino is has been for many years the main grape. It is one of the world’s most widely grown grapes, but its ability to provide top quality varietal wines is a fairly recent development.

The Mondial du Merlot is becoming known in the world of varietal competitions as a competition of reference, say the organizers.

Nearly  300 wines were presented at the competition, held in August in Sierre, with 160 producers from 17 countries.

The awards were handed to wines from a number of different production areas. The 25 gold medals went to 16 Swiss wines, 6 French ones, 2 from Romania and one from Lebanon.

Best Wine of the Competition – Prix Ville de Lugano
Le secret de Lestrille 2010 AOC Bordeaux supérieur
Earl Roumage – Estelle Lestrille – St-Germain du Puch – France

Prix Syngenta Merlot World Champion producer
Cantina Monti  – Cademario Tessin – Switzerland

Best Merlot Blend, given by Eticolle
Caligula Cuvée des Empereurs 2010 – AOC Valais
Cave la Romaine – Flanthey- Valais – Switzerland

Best Swiss Varietal Merlot, given by the Vinea Association
Clos du Châtelard Apicius 2009 AOC Chablais
Caves Hammel, Charles Rolaz et Fabio Penta Rolle – Vaud – Switzerland

Best Foreign Varietal Merlot
Le secret de Lestrille 2010 AOC Bordeaux supérieur
Earl Roumage – Estelle Lestrille – St-Germain du Puch – France

Best Older Vintages Merlot
Le Merlot « A » de St-Thomas 2005, Vallée de la Bekaa
Clos St-Thomas-  Kab-Elias -  Lebanon

Prix Vinofed – Judges’ agreement
Merlot de Vétroz Grande Réserve 2010 AOC Valais
Cave des Tilleuls à Vétroz – Valais – Switzerland

The complete results of the Mondial du Merlot 2012 will be published 27 September on the competition’s web site.

Serendipity: two Vaud gold winners at Mondial du Merlot holding weekend openhouses

World's best Merlot 2010, Cave Cidis in Tolochenaz, near Morges, Switzerland

Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two of the top Merlots in the world, named late Thursday 25 November at the Mondial du Merlot in Ticino, are grown quite close to each other in canton Vaud. The competition, in its third year, had entries from 25 countries.

Happily for local winelovers, both are holding open houses this weekend, so head for the Morges area!

Cave Cidis, a  well-respected wine cooperative in Vaud, won the overall Merlot best of competition title at the Mondial du Merlot in Ticino, for its “Inspiration” (CHF23), no small feat considering that eight Ticino wines, generally considered home to Switzerland’s best Merlots, won gold.

Vaud made an impressive showing, with two other wineries taking gold, showing the potential for Merlot in the Lake Geneva region. Domaine de Chantemerle, Tartegnin, and Domaine Terre-Neuve, in Saint Prex. David Kind (who speaks English) at Terre-Neuve (on the lake road heading towards Morges) is holding his annual open house Saturday 11:00-17:00 and Cidis in Tolochenaz is holding a three-day Autumn Tasting 24-27 November.

The two wineries are about less than 2 km from each other. Terre Neuve is a relatively small family winery in a beautiful setting and Cidis is one of the largest wineries in the area, with a large selection of their own and other wines, including imported bottles.

Tartegnin is on your route if you’re coming from Geneva, and the fourth generation of the Chantemerle winery family, the Jaccouds, is gaining a reputation for innovation and interesting fine wines. The winery, with English web pages, is open Saturday.

David Kind, Terre-Neuve in Saint Prex