World Caviar Awards 2026: Bronze for Eichinger Caviar in Paris
On the evening of 12 November, at the Alcazar in Paris, the World Caviar Awards presented their medals for 2026. Eichinger Caviar came home with bronze in the Baerii category: caviar from Siberian sturgeon, cured with nothing but salt.
The category: Baerii, salt only
The World Caviar Awards judge caviar blind and by category: by sturgeon species, and by how the roe is cured. Ours was Baerii · Pur Sel. That means Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) with salt as the only addition. It's the only way I make caviar: no preservatives, no pasteurisation, just roe and salt. So this is exactly the category I wanted to be measured in.
We entered two caviars from the same species, Imperial Baerii and Titan Selection, and we entered as a producer, not as a trader. At each edition the jury tastes around a hundred caviars from producers and caviar houses all over the world, without knowing whose tin is in front of them. No brand, no packaging, no story. Only the roe on the spoon.
Why this medal means a lot to me
I make every tin of Eichinger Caviar myself, at the Grüll sturgeon farm in Salzburg, where I learned the craft. I decide when a fish is ready. I wash, salt and fill the roe by hand, and the tin is closed within 20 minutes of the harvest. When a blind jury in Paris picks out that caviar, it isn't rewarding a label. It's rewarding the work.
And it's not the first time this year. At the Black Pearl Awards 2026 in Gstaad, our Imperial Baerii won gold as Rising Star and silver in the Fresh Siberian category. Two competitions, two independent juries, both tasting blind. For a house I founded in January 2023, that says more than any adjective I could write about our caviar.
The evening at the Alcazar
Red carpet, gold chairs, candles on every table. Along the corridor to the dining room hung the flags of the countries taking part. The photo at the top of this article was taken there, next to the Austrian one.
Before the competition, every producer handed in empty tins of the caviars they had entered. I brought ours from Salzburg. An artist set them into a large canvas in gold and slate blue, and the finished painting stood on an easel during the gala dinner.
At the cocktail reception before dinner, the producers' caviar was served for tasting. I tasted mine the way I taste every batch at the farm: as a bump on the back of the hand. The skin warms the roe for a moment, and texture and aroma come through without a spoon getting in the way. If you've never tried it, here is how a caviar bump works.
What happens next
The full list of medallists will be published in the World Caviar Awards magazine on 15 December, and French television (TF1, Grands Reportages) is covering the competition.
For us, the work stays the same. Same fish, same salt, same hands. If you'd like to taste our Baerii for yourself, start with Imperial Baerii. If you want the rarest selection from the same sturgeon, choose Titan Selection. Serve it the way a jury tastes it: plain, from a mother-of-pearl spoon. Our guide on how to eat caviar explains the rest.
Not sure which tin suits your table? Write to me. I answer every message myself.
Thank you to the organisers and the jury in Paris, and to everyone who has trusted a small caviar producer from Salzburg since 2023.
