IN BREVE
- Exclusive investigation by Winemag.it: Italy has spent over one million euros of public money to fund 5 editions of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
- The regions involved are Calabria, Campania, Sardinia, and Sicily. And in 2026, the CMB will return to Italy, to Cirò, in Calabria.
- Vinopres, the Belgian organizing company, has seen a significant increase in net profit and has opened two CMB Wine Bars in Mexico and South Korea.
- Despite the public funding, some Regions did not respond to requests for clarification on the costs incurred.
- The proliferation of CMB editions raises questions about the appropriateness of state funding for private companies outside the OIV aegis.
Italy has spent over one million euros of public money to fund the editions of the CMB – Concours Mondial de Bruxelles on its national territory. This is what emerges from an exclusive investigation by Winemag.it, which reviewed the resolutions of the four regions—Calabria, Campania, Sardinia, and Sicily—where the international wine competition created by the Belgian company Vinopres was organized. The figure refers to 5 editions. A further one is planned in Cirò from March 27 to 29, 2026. It will further increase the total public funding to over €1.35 million.
A seven-figure business for the activities of a foreign private company, which does not take into account the other editions organized worldwide by the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. From Mexico to Romania, passing through China, Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and soon Armenia, the “sessions” of the CMB have multiplied out of all proportion since 2022.
The method is always the same: access to public funds by the host country, which takes care of the logistical organization, hospitality, and activities of the international judges. This also guarantees the CMB a handsome profit on the samples entered for tasting (from €185 per single sample, if the labels entered by the winery are more than 10, to over €1,700 for 9 samples).
CONCOURS MONDIAL DE BRUXELLES: PUBLIC MONEY IN FOUR ITALIAN REGIONS
A formula that has earned the Belgian company managed by Baudouin Havaux and Quentin Havaux, father and son, a significant strengthening of its accounts. Again according to data collected by Winemag.it from official Belgian databases, Vinopres’ net profit is growing significantly, rising from €46,369 in 2023 to €285,146 in 2024. At the same time, net equity exceeds €1.1 million.
The financial statements highlight a solid financial structure and improving operating margins. And robust liquidity, even compared to the already positive data for the 2021 financial year, in strong post-pandemic recovery. These figures, among other things, have allowed the company to diversify its business, investing in the opening of two majestic CMB Wine Bars in Mexico and South Korea.
Also marketed as “Wine & Spirits Experience by CMB“, the venues in Mexico City and Seoul have transformed the competition into a true commercial brand. Permanent wine bars/shops in the city, where only wines awarded by the competition itself are tasted blind, according to a model that sees them divided by medal.
THE COSTS OF THE CONCOURS MONDIAL DE BRUXELLES IN ITALY
THE CMB IN SICILY
At the moment, only regions in Southern Italy have joined the CMB’s traveling project. The first “Italian” session of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles was organized in 2010 in Palermo and featured sweet and fortified wines. Sicily holds the record among the regions funding the competition, welcoming Vinopres back to the island in 2022 and then again this year, in September 2025.
While it proved impossible to trace the costs of the 2010 edition, the expenditure items incurred by the Sicily Region-Irvo (Regional Institute of Wine and Oil) duo between 2022 and 2025 are clear. This amounts to over €164,000 in 2022 for the edition held in Marsala, and just under €182,000 for the 2025 edition, which saw Catania as the stage for Vinopres’ business.
Among the expenditure items funded with public money is also the communication of the competition, with direct contracts awarded to companies in the host region. For the 2025 Sicilian session, Irvo committed €10,980 to the company P.R.C. Re Pubbliche S.r.l. of Palermo, in full agreement with the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicily Region.
THE CMB IN SARDINIA
Going back in time, here is Sardinia. The 2024 “Sparkling and Effervescent Wines” session cost approximately €300,000 in total. All this to host about fifty experts (journalists, buyers, and “influencers”) in Alghero from July 3 to 5 to judge about 900 wines.
The expenditure is confirmed to Winemag.it by the press office of the Sardinia Region. The entity co-financed the project together with Laore Sardegna, the island’s regional agency for agricultural development, which advertised the call to action for sample registration on its website.
“The Laore Sardegna Agency, as part of the organization of the 2024 edition of the CMB – Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, provided exclusively technical support through the involvement of Laore professionals relevant to the sector, who attended the Alghero event,” the External Relations Office explained to Winemag.
THE CMB IN CAMPANIA
It is complicated to trace the figures spent to organize another session of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles reserved for “Sparkling and Effervescent Wines.” The one in Campania, from May 18-22, 2022. No regional office ever responded to Winemag.it’s (repeated) emails and certified emails (PEC). A resolution signed by director Flora Della Valle, found among the (poorly maintained) web pages of the Campania Region’s Transparent Administration, shows an expenditure item of €88,388.50 in favor of the company Principe di Napoli Scarl.
This is the company that manages the location where the tastings took place and where the judges were invited: the Campus Principe di Napoli in Agerola, a well-known training center for catering and hospitality on the Amalfi Coast, with instructors such as Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck. Curiosity: here too, 900 wines were tasted, according to estimates certified only by the organizers.
THE CMB IN CALABRIA
The same absolute stonewalling in Calabria regarding Winemag’s investigation into the public costs of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Italy. No response, not even from the president’s office, which was contacted several times, including by telephone. In Calabria, however, the website that collects regional resolutions works better than in Campania.
And so, on the website of the Regional Agency for the Development of Calabrian Agriculture (ARSAC), the expenditure of €300,000 appears, incurred for the “Rosé Session” of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles held in Rende from May 18 to 22, 2022. An edition in which several jurors had to deal with some organizational and security problems, as reported at the time on social media.
“The return of the Concours to Calabria,” recently commented the Regional Councilor for Agriculture of the Calabria Region, Gianluca Gallo, “is a strong signal. It means that the work of local producers has been recognized, that quality pays off, and that the Region believed fully in this candidacy.” The public allocation for the Cirò edition, which promises to be substantial, is still unknown.
THE BUSINESS MODEL OF THE CMB – CONCOURS MONDIAL DE BRUXELLES
In a wine sector in crisis due to the decline in consumption and difficulties in communicating with new generations, the multiplication of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles editions/sessions is much more than a counter-trend figure. Several international wine competitions of great tradition and established authority, which take place only once or twice a year in the same location without “traveling” the world in search of “funders,” are struggling to maintain their leadership role.
The CMB machine, on the other hand, seems to be running at full throttle, as shown by Vinopres’ financial statements. Does the future of wine competitions therefore lie in the public funding of their activities, “sold” as territorial promotion of the host areas? Is it right for States, through Ministries, Regions, Provinces, and Municipalities, to fund private companies that operate even outside the aegis of any control and guarantee body, above all the International Organisation of Vine and Wine? Only time will tell.
