Dorset-based vineyard and winery Furleigh Estate has scooped gold and silver medals at the inaugural Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC). Furleigh Estate’s Classic Cuvée 2009 was awarded a gold medal at the awards, while the Blanc de Blancs 2009 won a silver.
This new global wine competition was launched by internationally renowned specialist writer and author Tom Stevenson and has been created to provide consumers and trade with the definitive annual guide to the very best Champagnes and sparkling wines in the world.
Rebecca Hansford, owner of Furleigh Estate, said: “To win gold and silver medals in the very first Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships is a great honour. We are very proud that both the wines we entered into this competition won medals, particularly given that Tom Stevenson is such a leading authority in the sparkling wine world, and we really value his opinion of our wines.”
On judging the awards, Tom Stevenson, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the number and quality of entries in the inaugural year of the toughest fizz competition on the planet. It is the first wine competition to be judged exclusively by Champagne and sparkling wine specialists and the only global competition in which every judge agrees all the medals awarded.
He added: “All wines scoring bronze or less were culled, making our medals truly elite and the wines that win them very special. We tasted the wines blind in flights by origin, grape variety, style and vintage; scoring in solitude before discussing each wine and deciding which medal to award.”
The overall World Champion and Best in Class trophies will be revealed in mid-September.
For those wanting to taste Furleigh Estate’s award-winning sparkling wines, the vineyard and winery are open to the public for tours and tastings every Friday and Saturday and every Thursday in August. For more information call 01308 488991.
