Concours Général Agricole

French national agricultural competition, Paris

Twenty thousand samples tasted blind, and three medals to tell them apart: since 1870, France's oldest taste competition.

The Concours des Produits is one of five competitions brought together under the name of the Concours Général Agricole, alongside contests for breeding animals, wines, young professionals, and agroecological practices. Jointly owned by the ministère de l'Agriculture and CENECA, it dates back to the universal breeding animal competition commissioned by Napoleon III in 1855, and has borne its current name since 1870. It is held each year in Paris, in February, during the Salon International de l'Agriculture.

More than twenty thousand products are tasted and judged there blind, divided across some twenty sections ranging from dairy products to charcuterie, honeys to olive oils, and fattened waterfowl to aquaculture products. The judging panels, composed of professionals and trained consumers, award three levels of medal: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. A medal recognises a specific batch entered in a given year — never a producer in general.

The Prix d'Excellence follows a different logic: it rewards not a sample, but consistency — that is, a producer awarded medals several years in succession. It is the highest accolade on the roll of honour, and the only one not tied to a single vintage.

The competition is not confined to food: it also honours beers, rums and punches, aperitifs, eaux-de-vie, mistelles, and calvados, which make up nearly a quarter of its roll of honour. It also makes room for ciders and perries, as well as meads, judged alongside the honeys.

Entry drafted on 01/09/2026 — Last updated: 01/09/2026

Organised by
Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Souveraineté alimentaire et CENECA
Since
1870
Venue
Paris
Frequency
annuel
Results
March
Awards
Gold · Silver · Bronze · Prize of excellence

75 products in the atlas · 203 award-winning producers

Of the 1,550 medals awarded, here are those won by a producer described in the atlas — the three most recent for each product. The full results are available on the competition's website.