The collaboration with the wine and vine institute (Irvv) was fundamental. “It is a large competition that requires hard work, including finding the right room”, said Havaux, “we could find a room big enough for the tastings and the Irvv helped us”. In reality the Irvv tripled the space. “Tastings took place in the main hall, while the samples that still had to be tasted were collected in a new structure built between the main hall and the sea”.

Havaux knows Sicily very well, he visited the island many times for work and for pleasure. “The last time I came was for Sicilia En Primeur”, he said. His favourite Sicilian wines are the Nero D’Avola, “which is impossible to find in the rest of the world”, and all the native vines. “For me it’s important to associate wines to the territory from where they come ”, he explained, “I would never choose a Sicilian Chardonnay or a Sauvignon since you have so many native vines”.

His favourite wine? He doesn’t have one. “I have a favourite wine for every moment and meal”, he confessed, “in general I don’t like wines in which you can taste the wood, I prefer the more natural ones”. The perfect wine? Havaux’ recipe is to be open to innovation and love. Which wine will win the Concours? “Normally we award 25% of the samples”, he explained, “so this year about two thousand wines should win”. We’ll have the results in five days, as you can read on the website www.concoursmondial.com.

Next year the competition will be hosted by Luxemburg. “After a wine region in the South of Europe we had to choose one further north, closer to Bruxelles”, he explained, “and amongst the countries we still hadn’t visited there was Luxemburg. Even if this country is still not know from a wine point of view, it is a very interesting area”. So on Monday the 3rd of May the Concours will close and Palermo will pass the baton on to Luxemburg, the next capital of wine

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute