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Last May I have judged at the SMV Canada for the first time, representing the Wine&Women Association, I am now happy to share my impressions and, above all, the results:

chiara giorleo at smv canada

  • SMV Canada: short presentation

SMV Canada – Sélections Mondiales des Vins Canada – held in Canada in the city of Quebec, is the largest international competition in North America. It takes place under the high patronage of the International Vine and Wine Organization (OIV) and the World Federation of major international wine competitions (VINOFED). This year, on the occasion of the 26th edition, they have registered an important success 1564 products by 501 companies (20% more than 2018), from 34 different countries including new presences such as UK, Austria, Egypt, Morocco and Moldova. Italy is the most represented country (with 409 products) followed by France (300), Portugal (195) and Spain (137); a figure that reflects the interest of our producers in accessing this market.

 

my tasting panel at SMV Canada

  • SMV Canada: the awards

481 medals have been awarded in total: 6 Great Gold medals, 261 Gold medals and 214 Silver medals, plus 4 special awards. The medals as a whole represent 30.7% of the registered products, as imposed by the OIV and by VinoFed. By number of medals, the countries which distinguished have been: France (88 medals in total), Portugal (81), Italy (74), Spain (62). Hence Italy is once again confirmed among the most appreciated producer countries with a total of 41 gold medals out of 74. The complete list of award-winning wines can be consulted here: https://www.smvcanada.ca/it/vincitori/

These are the Grand Gold Medals:

  • RIESLING LES COMTES 2017, ALSACE AOC – Domaine Edmond Rentz, France
  • SAMOS VIN DOUX 2018, SAMOS DOP– United Winemaking Agricultural Cooperative of Samos, Greece;
  • DALVA PORTO COLHEITA GW 1989 – C. da Silva (Vinhos) S.A., Portugal;
  • DON PX 1990, MONTILLA-MORILES DO– Bodegas Toro Albala, Spain;
  • RIESLING TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE – EDESHEIMER ROSENGARTEN 2018, PFALZ – Weingut Werner Anselmann, Germany;
  • TRAMINER SELECTED BERRY HARVEST 2016 AOC – Iločki Podrumi, Croatie

motto Quebec

  • SMV Canada: style and program

This is a particularly rigorous competition: from the compilation of a sheet by every judge for each wine to the synchronized sommelier service or the perfectly scanned times: tastings are spread over 4 days with about 40 wines per day for each panel for a total of 56 judges from 15 different countries but most are Canadian or work permanently here. Judge taste from 8:30 am to 12:30 am with 2 coffee breaks, the afternoons are all free and dedicated to tours of the territory. Thus, after the first free afternoon I spent to re-discover the center of Quebec city, we had the opportunity to visit the ‘Observatoire de la Capitale’ admiring the whole city from its highest point as well as, on the third day, the ‘ Morrin Center ‘, a multi-functional cultural center within the walls of Quebec located in a former prison where, once, the “worst criminals” were locked up after tortures and disincentive exposure to public, especially murderers, thieves and drunkards. The contest ended with the gala dinner (day 4) at the Alize restaurant at the Quebec Aquarium to unveil the ‘Grand Gold Medal’ and special prizes.

Quebec city

What’s more, one of the most interesting aspects of SMV is that every day at 8:00 am, before starting with the tastings, a conference was held: from the presentation of the Swiss training platform Swisswine-campus.ch by M. Jean-Marc Amez-Droz to the one on “The scientific and technical reference in the world wine sector” of the (OIV) by Prof. Dr. Regina Vanderlinde (Brazil), up to ‘our’ Emanuele Pellucci, esteemed journalist, among the deans of the Italian wine press who illustrated “The success of Italian bubbles”.

Emanuele Pellucci

Another special occasion to share tasting notes and general impressions with wine experts from all over the world. Thanks SMV, thanks Wine&Women association.

Donne del Vino in Canada – from left: Nancy Rossi, Sissi Baratella, Chiara Giorleo

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