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For several days, Yerevan has transformed into the world capital of wine as the 33rd edition of Concours Mondial de Bruxelles officially opened in the Armenian capital on May 21.

Held at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, the prestigious international wine competition has brought together more than 400 sommeliers, wine critics, buyers, journalists, wine writers and industry professionals from dozens of countries. Over the course of three days, they will blind taste thousands of wines from wine-producing regions around the globe.

This year marks a milestone for Armenia, as the competition is being hosted in the country for the very first time. The event includes two major categories – red and white wines, as well as sparkling wines. In total, the jury will evaluate around 8,000 wines from more than 50 countries.

Gevorg Papoyan, Armenia’s Minister of Economy, stressed that hosting the competition goes far beyond being simply a prestigious international event. According to him, it represents a unique opportunity to firmly position Armenia on the global wine map and introduce Armenian wine to an entirely new audience.

Papoyan noted that for many international experts, Armenia has become a genuine discovery – a country where the history of winemaking stretches back thousands of years.

“Most of them previously had no idea that Armenia has a winemaking history dating back more than 6,000 years. Many were unfamiliar with Armenia’s wine culture, the quality of our wines and our wine production overall. This is a wonderful opportunity to present all of that to them… to showcase Armenian products and, of course, increase export volumes. Thanks to this experience, Armenian wine is becoming more export-ready. And naturally, it also helps position Armenia as a wine tourism destination,” Papoyan said.

Zaruhi Muradyan, Executive Director of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia, emphasized that the competition offers Armenian winemakers a rare opportunity to receive professional feedback from some of the world’s leading experts.

“It’s extremely important that specialists not only score the wines, but also describe them. This helps winemakers understand why a wine received a lower rating or, conversely, what exactly experts appreciated about it. Among the tasters are buyers, sommeliers and journalists – all of them evaluate wine from different professional perspectives,” Muradyan explained.

Quentin Havaux, Director General of the competition, admitted that the decision to bring Concours Mondial de Bruxelles to Armenia felt almost instinctive for the organizers.

“I was deeply impressed by this country, its culture and its history. For us, it became obvious that we needed to hold the competition here in order to show the world what Armenia has to offer – not only in terms of wine, but also culture, history and gastronomy,” he said.

The competition results will be published on June 10 on the official Concours Mondial de Bruxelles website.

Until then, international experts will continue tastings and travel through Armenia’s wine regions, exploring local wineries, ancient winemaking traditions and the country’s gastronomic culture. Industry insiders are confident that hosting a competition of this scale will become a major moment of international recognition for Armenian wine and further strengthen interest in Armenia as one of the world’s most distinctive wine tourism destinations.

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