Feedback
The 27th edition of the Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles took place from September 7 to 12, 2025, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Hosted in Tequila, at the very heart of the historic production area of the spirit that bears its name, the event has established itself as a global benchmark for spirits evaluation.
This year, it gathered 150 international experts to assess more than 2,550 samples from 70 countries across 62 categories, with nearly 20% of the entries coming from Mexico.
For the past two years, Winespace has been working alongside Spirits Selection and its director, Ulric Nijs, to adapt its wine-focused technology to the world of spirits. The ambition is clear: to revolutionize the tasting experience, enhance the collection of feedback, and unlock the full value of competition data.
The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles applies a rigorous methodology based on the OIV evaluation grid. Each spirit is tasted blind and assessed according to specific criteria: appearance, nose, palate, and overall impression. The numerical scores assigned to each dimension are then combined to establish a global rating.
Yet the ambition goes beyond simple scoring. For several years now, tasting notes have played a key role in enriching the feedback provided to producers. In 2025, particular emphasis has been placed on their quality: they are now mandatory, detailed, and exhaustive on the aspects experts consider most relevant. These notes provide deeper insight into the personality of each product and enhance the competition’s transparency by justifying the evaluations.
With more than 60 categories of spirits represented from around the globe, even the most seasoned experts cannot master every specific detail. To meet this challenge, Spirits Selection created the Spirits Guideline, a reference tool that sets out the typical characteristics expected in each category (aromatic style, balance, structure, intensity, and more).
Under the leadership of Ulric Nijs, Director of Spirits Selection, the Guideline was updated in 2025 to include consolidated sensory profiles for each product type. This update is based on the analysis of data collected during previous editions.
This is where Tastee comes in. Using artificial intelligence, all tasting comments for each category were analyzed, structured, and synthesized to deliver clear, actionable insights, giving judges the keys to better approach each type of product. In practice, the Spirits Guidelines provides:
With more than 2,250 samples tasted, each evaluated by five professional judges, the competition generates over 10,000 tasting comments written in more than 15 languages. Faced with such a considerable volume, the role of AI is essential: to preserve the information contained in the comments, transform it into analyzable data, then process and synthesize it to deliver results that are clear, visual, and immediately actionable.
In practice, Tastee produces several types of outputs, including:
These data and results form a versatile toolkit, enabling information to be shared in different formats and for various uses : technical, marketing, or communication. They fully support the missions of Spirits Selection: to provide detailed feedback to producers, to showcase award-winning products, and to promote the richness of the global spirits market.
The Spirits Selection by CMB has a clear mission: to reward the best spirits while ensuring their diffusion and international visibility.
Thanks to the analyses generated by Tastee, Winespace helps transform tasting results into powerful marketing tools for distributors, while also creating a global trend map of the spirits market: identifying which profiles are most appealing, which categories are evolving, and how styles are adapting to consumer expectations.
A concrete example is Bistrot Pedol, a CMB partner, which already leverages these tools within its Wine & Spirits Experience concept to showcase award-winning products to its customers, both in its restaurants and in its wine & spirits boutique.
Many more applications are yet to be imagined, and they will enrich future editions of the competition, reinforcing the Spirits Selection as both a showcase and a driver of innovation for the entire industry.
More information on the Spirits Selection by CMB and Ulric Nijs.
