GG 8 years, from Rio Bananal, won a Grand Gold Medal at the spirits competition held on the island of Madeira, in Portugal
A cachaça from Espírito Santo aged in a balsam-wood vat was the Revelation of the cachaça category at Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2026, an international spirits competition. The contest took place from October 16 to 18 on the island of Madeira, in Portugal, and the results were published on the competition's official website on Monday, November 2.
The winner is Cachaça GG Envelhecida em Tonel de Bálsamo 8 Anos, from Giuberti e Giuberti, in Rio Bananal, in the north of Espírito Santo. Besides the Revelation Cachaça title, it received the Grand Gold Medal, the highest of the competition's three distinctions, which also awards Gold Medals and Silver Medals. According to Folha Vitória, another cachaça from the state made the podium: Mais Uma, from Domingos Martins, in the state's mountain region, took silver.
The results also honored a cachaça from Mato Grosso do Sul. Barão de Toledo Blend Madeiras Nobres received a Gold Medal, according to the Aonça website, from Mato Grosso do Sul, which reported the award on the day the results were released. As the name suggests, the label is a blend aged in more than one wood.
Spirits Selection is the spirits arm of Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, a Belgian organization best known for the wine competition of the same name. Each year the judging moves to a new host: the 2025 edition was held in Jalisco, Mexico, the home of tequila, and the 2026 edition went to Madeira, the Portuguese island famous for its fortified wine. The full list of medalists, with labels from many countries, is on the competition's results website; Bebidário did not find a tally of the total number of Brazilian cachaças awarded in this edition.
None of the winning cachaças is in Bebidário's catalog. It does include others aged in balsam, a Brazilian wood used for vats, such as Weber Haus Bálsamo and Saliníssima Bálsamo, as well as Santo Grau Paraty.
Sources: Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (November 2, 2026), Folha Vitória (November 2026), Aonça (November 2, 2026).
