The prestigious world Concours Mondial de Bruxelles competition is coming to Istria in May 2023. This is a great recognition for Istrian winemakers and Istria as a wine region because, what the Champions League is to sport, the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is to the world of wine!

The good news for Istria and Croatia was announced at a gala ceremony that took place on May 22 in Cosenza, Calabria, Italy, where representatives of the Vinistra Association and the Region of Istria presented a number of Istrian attractions with a traditional lunch paired with top quality and hard-to-resist Malvasia and Terrano.

Together with the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) and the International Wine Challenge (IWC), the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is the world's largest wine evaluation. It was founded in 1994, and since 2006 has been held in a different country every other year, so that around fifteen of the most famous wine countries have earned the title of host so far, including Croatia.

As an attractive wine destination, Istria applied to host this famous evaluation in the section of still red and white wines, which will bring together more than 350 evaluators in Poreč from 11th to 14th May 2023.

Top wine experts, including 60 percent of the world’s wine journalists, will evaluate about ten thousand samples from fifty countries in just a few days! Various accompanying programs, excursions and tastings are organised for the participants of this world wine event, so the evaluators will get to know Istria, and posts on social networks, portals, blogs, TV shows and magazines will travel the world.

"Since we are a small region, we have opted for excellence and that is why we can proudly say that today we produce top quality wines and that for the seventh year running we have the best olive oils in the world. Wine and winemaking are part of our tradition and have made Istria a recognisable brand on the global market. That is why hosting the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is both a great honour and a great opportunity for us to present why Istria is famous to the world. Thank you for that opportunity. See you next year in Poreč", said the President of the Istria Tourist Board, Prefect Boris Miletić in Cosenza, after taking over the flag of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

The candidacy for hosting, which took place in several stages, was prepared by the Istrian Association of Winemakers and Winegrowers, Vinistra, in cooperation with the Istria Tourist Board, and Poreč was selected as an established wine mecca with many years of experience in organising the Vinistra fair and the international evaluation the World of Malvasia, as well as a number of other festivals. In the final phase of the selection, representatives of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles visited our peninsula, and everything they saw and experienced during their stay here in February obviously left a good impression on them.

Istria has thus defeated some much larger wine regions, so this is an exceptional recognition not only for Istrian winemakers, but also for Istria as a destination that can offer a high level of hosting.