At the recent 18th International Competition of brandies and fruit liqueurs Metz, a total of nine Luxembourg producers were awarded Gold Medals and another nine were awarded Silver Medals.
The Luxembourg Gold Medal winners were as follows:
- Poire Williams, Distillerie Arsène BARZEN-WEWER, Herborn
- Prunelle, Distillerie Johny DAHM-REITER, Lilien
- Mirabelle, Distillerie Georges HANSEN, Contern
- Coing, Distillerie Jean-Claude MULLER-LEMMER, Contern
- Kirsch, Distillerie Jean-Claude MULLER-LEMMER, Contern
- Quetsch, Distillerie Jean-Claude MULLER-LEMMER, Contern
- Poire Williams, Distillerie André WEBER, Wormeldange
- Liqueur de Mirabelle, Distillerie DIFRULUX, Breidweiler
- Liqueur de Noix, Distillerie ZENNER, Schwebsange
The international competition of Metz was established in 1982 and is held every two years; the 18th edition took place on 24 March. As all competitions of this nature, it aims to reward the best products of the moment, based on a scale first on a visual examination that allows to appreciate the colour, clarity and brilliance, then an olfactory examination for typicality, bouquet, harmony and intensity and, finally, a taste test that must confirm on impressions or reinforce previous reviews.
This is the twelfth time that Luxembourg distillers have participated hoping reconnect with the results of previous participations: 1994 (1 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze), 1996 (2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze), 1998 (4 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze), 2000 (3 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze), 2002 (4 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze), 2004 (3 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze), 2006 (4 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze), 2008 (8 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze), 2010 (5 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze), 2012 (6 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze) and 2014 (2 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze).
Distillers who took part in this year's competition came from France, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (13 participants), Belgium and Italy. They presented 163 samples of which 100 were brandies and 63 were liqueurs. The 11 distillers from Luxembourg, members of the national mark, had almost 2/3 of brandies and many liqueurs.
The Distillers National Brand (distillateurs de la Marque nationale) got 18 medals (9 gold and 9 silver) out of the total of 44 assigned (18 gold and 26 silver).
The products were tasted in each category regardless of their origin, i.e., the winning alcohols were each the best in their class.
The vast majority of the Luxembourg spirits had obtained national mark before being submitted to the contest in Metz; and the effort invested by distillers and national brand of spirits for more than thirty years fully bore fruit in these international competitions.
