Laurent Delaunay, oenologue, fifth generation Burgundian winemaker, President of the BIVB and owner of Edouard Delaunay, was in London at the IWC Awards Dinner in July 2023 to pick up the highly prestigious accolade of IWC Champion Red Wine for his Edouard Delaunay Chambertin Grand Cru 2020, beating fierce competition from around the world.
Widely regarded as the world’s most impartial and rigorously judged global wine competition, the IWC’s panel of international experts puts the trophy winners through a series of blind tastings to select the winning wines from specific countries which are named the best wines in the world. Then of these world-beating wines, Delaunay’s Chambertin Grand Cru 2020 was awarded the ultimate title, of Champion Red Wine in the entire competition. An honour reserved exclusively for wines that are deemed the absolute best-in-class.
Not only did this stunning wine command 97 points it was also awarded with the IWC’s Chambertin, Burgundy Red, French Red and International Pinot Noir trophies.
That would be a pretty good night for most producers, but not for Edouard Delaunay, the most atypical of the great Burgundy merchant houses and specialists in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. The house also won trophies in the Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard and Puligny-Montrachet categories, along with seven gold medals reflecting the estate’s growing reputation for making world class wines from Burgundy.
Current owner and great grandson of Edouard Delaunay’s founder, Laurent Delaunay commented, “What an honour it has been tonight to be presented with the IWC’s trophy for Champion Red Wine and for it to be a Chambertin Grand Cru from Burgundy where my family has been making wine for generations. He continues, “I am beyond proud of the talented team at Edouard Delaunay and what they have achieved this year and delighted that our hard work continues to be recognised by the IWC, one of the most respected wine competitions in the world.”
Edouard Delaunay’s seven gold medals at this year’s competition were awarded to their Chambertin Grand Cru, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts, Pommard 1er Cru Les Chaponnières, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Saint-Georges, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes.
In addition to this incredibly impressive haul, Edouard Delaunay has won numerous other trophies at the IWC in recent years including recognition on two occasions for Red Winemaker of the Year and once for White Winemaker of the Year.
Delaunay says, “It’s hard to believe the success we’ve had in such a short space of time, as the estate only returned into our family’s hands in 2017. This evening it feels like we’ve taken another big leap towards not only returning the estate to the glory of its 19th century heyday but also to cementing Edouard Delaunay’s growing reputation in Burgundy.”