History

Tom Stevenson explains when, why and how The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) was established

When Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine was originally published in 1998, it revealed an emerging category of premium quality of sparkling wine, but the number of truly world class examples beyond the borders of Champagne itself could still be counted on the fingers of one hand. By 2003, however, when the second edition was published, the number of world class sparkling wines had started to soar, and this sparked the idea of a competition to track their progress, confirm their consisstency and spot any new classics that might be in the pipeline, but this was nipped in the bud by Decanter. I had written for Decanter since 1981 and they offered me the chair of two panels, Champagne and Alsace, at a new competion they told me they were launching in 2004 called “Decanter World Wine Awards” (DWWA). I accepted and all thoughts of my own competition were immediately forgotten.
 
I chaired two panels at the DWWA for nine years and loved every minute of it, but in 2013 Decanter began a phase of dropping, moving or changing a number of the chairs, particularly those with more than one panel. I was offered Alsace for a 10^th year, but not Champagne. If it was the other way around, I would probably still be chairing at DWWA, but it was not, and this gave me the opportunity to reimagine my own specialist competition. So, thank you, Decanter, for the CSWWC!
 
I politely declined the Alsace chair because all DWWA panel chairs are contractually obliged not to judge in any other UK-based competition and I intended to hit the ground running with the first CSWWC in 2013. However, my replacement as Champagne chair at the DWWA turned out to be Essi Avellan MW, who was pivotal to my plans for my own competition.  She was refused her permission to participate in CSWWC, of course, for the same reason as I was, consequently we delayed its launch until the following year.
 
Although that gave me an extra year to prepare, 2014 was still a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Having already secured my fellow judges, which included Dr Tony Jordan, as well as Essi Avellan, the next priority was to choose business partners who could set up the company and handle the admin, marketing and PR. Bryony Wright and Rachel Davey of Proven PR in Bristol were more friends than colleagues. They were the obvious choice and their selection was one of the best business decisions I have ever made.
 
So far, so good. Everything was going smoothly, but where to judge? Unlike major competitions, where the bigger it gets, the more judges they throw at it, I was determined that every wine entered would be judged by the same three sparkling wine specialists for consistency of the medals awarded, thus the bigger the CSWWC gets, the more time we need to judge. Finding tasting facilities for an extended period of time was thus paramount, especially as it was our first year and we had no idea how long we would need it for. Bryony, Rachel and I searched high and low for a suitable venue, but to no avail, when Chris Foss, the Head of Wine Studies at Plumpton College, came to our rescue! Although we had to move to somewhere much larger the next year, it was a lifeline we desperately needed, and one we shall always be grateful for.

A perfect choice for our first year (2014) Plumpton College is part of the University of Brighton with its own 10-hectare vineyard and commercial winery, offering a BSc (Hons) & MSc in Viticulture & Oenology in viticulture with modules specialising in sparkling wine. Its close proximity to all the major sparkling wine appellations of Europe makes it ideal for English-speaking student winemakers from half a world away.

It was all very much a gamble that first year, forking out to fly in Essi from Finland and Tony from Australia. We paid business class for Tony because that is the only way I fly long haul and I cannot expect anyone to do something I wont. We paid way above the going rate for judges because they are the best and deserve to be well-paid for their expertise. We put everyone we could in the nearest hotel, but the nearest we could find was a 20 minute taxi ride away. We learned many things the hard way, such as never pay a taxi firm up front. I naively thought the best way to guarantee a taxi at the height of the morning rush-hour was to pay them in advance, rather than ring up every day only to be told there is no availability because everyone was out on school-runs. Big mistake! They already have your money, so they do not even prioritise your journey, let alone guarantee it. No, they leave you to last!
 
Despite the bumpy ride, the judging went better than anyone could have expected and in The World of Fine Wine I wrote “A weak point of most wine competitions is the absence of the very best wines. You will never see, for example, a Bordeaux first growth entered into any competition, but we had hoped that the ‘first growths’ of Champagne would support the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships and, from the trophy winners profiled here, it is clear that most have. The iconic likes of Dom Pérignon Rosé, Dom Pérignon Oenothèque (now P2), Louis Roederer Cristal, and Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé have not entered any other competition.”