The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB) is an independent, traveling competition founded in 1994 and run by the Belgian group Vinopres. It stages several judging sessions each year. The competition is among the largest and most prestigious in the world and is now expanding to North America. I sat down with Ulric Nijs, Director of the CMB Spirits Selection, during the recent competition in Tequila to discuss CMB’s approach to spirits judging and its plans for North America.
CMB relies on a large international panel of judges—hundreds of sommeliers, buyers, winemakers, journalists, and educators from more than 50 countries. Panels are intentionally composed of a mix of nationalities and professions to minimize bias.
All entries are judged blind. Bottles are anonymized and poured by a back-room service team; flights are small and grouped by style. CMB uses a 100-point scale and performs statistical checks, including control and duplicate samples, to ensure consistency. In keeping with E.U. regulations, the competition caps the share of medals awarded to maintain rigor.
In practice, no more than one in three entries can receive a medal, and gold-level medals are typically limited to about 10% of entries—one of the strictest standards in the industry. By comparison, many North American competitions award gold medals to roughly 20%–40% of entries.
CMB issues three medals—Grand Gold, Gold, and Silver—to entries that clear set score thresholds. Special “Revelation” trophies highlight the highest-scoring examples by category or country. A top medal signals strong, peer-reviewed quality in a blind setting and is widely used in trade marketing and retail shelf talkers.
CMB is also unusual in that it is a standalone judging event that travels to a different host country each year, covering all major wine and spirits families under the same blind, international, quality-control protocol.
JM: The CMB is one of the world’s most extensive wine and spirits competitions. Its umbrella covers several satellite competitions as well as the main wine and spirits judging. How is the CMB judging schedule organized?
UN: CMB currently runs nine competitions: three local (Brazil, Mexico, South Africa); four wine specialties (Sparkling, Rosé, Sweet & Fortified, and Sauvignon); and two large international pillars—Spirits Selection and the flagship Concours Mondial de Bruxelles for red and white wines. Two additional competitions are in development.
Local events are scheduled independently by our on-the-ground offices and representatives. For all events, we plan around harvest calendars, production cycles, and major international trade fairs to avoid conflicts wherever possible.
The two main competitions stay in a consistent window each year; for example, Spirits Selection typically runs from mid-September to mid-October. That predictability helps producers plan entries, logistics, and marketing rollouts.
JM: European wine and spirits competitions are regulated by the E.U. and limited in how many medals they can award. How does this affect the judging process? Does it make CMB gold medals more authoritative?
UN: We operate under European rules that cap the overall percentage of medals. Practically, not every strong entry can medal, and gold represents a smaller, more selective share within that cap. The bar for gold is high and stable, which makes a CMB gold a strong, internationally recognized signal.
Because the cap is a percentage, the threshold for medaling adjusts each year with the quality of the field. As spirits production improves globally, the standard naturally lifts. That keeps our results relevant and allows brands to benchmark themselves in a constantly improving landscape, rather than against a fixed historical line. In short, the percentage approach preserves rigor, comparability, and real-world meaning for producers.
JM: Unlike most competitions, your annual judging moves around the world. What’s the rationale for changing venues each year, and how does that affect judging?
UN: The world of wine and spirits is vast and diverse. By rotating hosts, we can spotlight each country’s production heritage in situ, lower shipping barriers for local producers, and attract a truly international field. As you saw when judging, the week also includes technical visits and B2B meetings, so the competition delivers trade impact, not just medals.
The effects on judging are several:
- Panels are intentionally mixed by nationality, gender, and professional role. Judges recalibrate daily using the same sensory grid and standards, so changing venues broadens perspective without drifting from those standards.
- Richer typicity assessment: Being on the ground exposes judges to raw materials, production methods, climate, and warehouse conditions. That context sharpens discussions of style and typicity—especially valuable for local producers targeting export markets.
- Fresher, more representative flights: Hosting near producing regions reduces transit time and handling risk, helping samples show at their best.
- Category expertise where it matters: We can seat specialists for host-country categories while maintaining mixed panels. This raises the quality of feedback for local styles and ensures fair, informed evaluation of international entries.
- To keep results comparable year to year, we standardize glassware, service temperature, blind protocols, flight design, daily recalibration, referee panels, and post-tasting statistical controls that mitigate order/day effects.
In short, moving venues expands perspective and improves product context, while our standardized methods ensure consistent and comparable scoring across years and countries.
JM: Most competitions rely heavily on local judges. CMB drew judges from more than 40 countries for the recent Spirits Selection in Mexico. How does such a broad mix affect judging?
UN: This is our hallmark. We’ve been called the “United Nations of the wines and spirits world,” a reputation I’m proud of. Panels are intentionally mixed to mitigate local palate bias. The feedback producers receive reflects how a product will land in export markets—especially valuable for brands seeking growth abroad.
JM: Historically, CMB has included relatively few American judges. I believe I was one of only two U.S.-based judges at this year’s Spirits Selection. Why is that?
UN: We’re a Belgian competition, and our early growth was naturally Europe-centric. When Spirits Selection became a standalone competition in 2013, entries were still predominantly European—about 55% in 2013 versus 43% this year. In Mexico this year, Henry Preiss and you were indeed the only U.S.-based judges.
That is changing by design. When I was appointed in 2023, I was given a clear mandate to expand our international footprint. The United States is a key growth market for Spirits Selection.
JM: CMB provides detailed evaluations. How does your process differ from other competitions, and how do brands use your feedback?
UN: Beyond medals, every entry receives a structured sensory evaluation and panel discussion notes. Three elements matter most:
- Diagnostic feedback: A clear breakdown of aromatic families, palate architecture, balance, and typicity, with strengths and targeted improvement points you can act on.
- Statistical quality control: post-tasting checks mitigate external factors (such as tasting order or day effects), so final scores reflect product performance rather than context.
- Entry-specific aroma visualization: Each entry receives an aroma wheel—built from judges’ descriptors—that turns panel comments into a concise, shareable profile.
Wine and spirits are fundamentally sensorial, not numerical. They evoke emotions rather than digits. Our approach translates expert perception into practical guidance.
Thank you. Stay tuned for the results of the 2025 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Spirits Selection, exclusively in Forbes.