French/Benelux Craft Chocolatier Competition 2026 – Winners

French

The International Chocolate Awards is pleased to announce the Winners of the French/Benelux Craft Chocolatier competition, which was judged in-person in Bordeaux, France on 30 April and 1 May 2026 at the Show/Colat Festival.

The winners’ announcement was held at Show/Colat in Bordeaux, France on Saturday, 2nd May during a fun live event where many of our entrants came together to celebrate award-winning European craft chocolate. Our co-founders Monica Meschini and Martin Christy hosted the event together with Grand Jury members and some of our local judges.

Winners of these rounds will pass through to the World Final organized in October-November 2026.

This craft competition awards prizes for craft chocolatier products including filled chocolates/bonbons, pralines, enrobed fruits and nuts and chocolate spreads made with bean-to-bar chocolate as well as flavoured bars made with couverture.

Plain/origin and flavoured bean-to-bar products from European chocolate makers were judged at the 2026 European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition in April-May 2026.

Judges

The judges were drawn from local experts, food journalists, our IICCT Alumni and members of our permanent international Grand Jury.

Prizes

The categories judged included filled chocolates, enrobed fruits and nuts and chocolate spreads, as well as flavoured bars (not bean-to-bar). All judging is anonymized, including at the Grand Jury final session, where Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes are awarded by private voting.

** Bean-to-bar chocolatier products – recognising the growing trend of filled chocolate made by chocolate makers, winning products made with an entrant’s own chocolate are marked with (**).

Awards are awarded only to entries that meet the required standard for each prize.

The 2026 French/Benelux Craft Chocolatier Winners are:

(Prizes are shown in score order for each medal)

Barras saborizado

Barras de chocolate con leche con un relleno

Bronze: chocolatier Yasushi Sasaki (Belgium) – Vietnamienne (85.7)

Barras de chocolate con combinación de rellenos

Bronze: Louis Fouquet (France) – Tablette pralinaise amande noir (85.6)

Ganaches, palets, ganaches pralinés y trufas

Ganaches o trufas de chocolate con leche saborizado

Bronze: Legast Artisan (Belgium) – Banana & Caramel Milk Ganache (86.0) (**)

Nueces

Pralinés de nuez cubiertas de una combinación de chocolates

Bronze: La Fèverie by Hasnaâ (France) – Praliné frangipane (86.2) (**)

Otros – fruta/azúcar/mantequila/crema/misceláneos

Frutas enteras cubiertas de chocolate negro

Silver: Ara Chocolat (France) – Olives de Nyons au chocolat (88.4) (**)

+ Special: Ingredients

(*) Declared chocolate maker for private label bars.

(**) Winner has declared the product is made with their own bean-to-bar chocolate or couverture.

Professional