During the programme of events in Paris at the time of the International Grand Chapitre & AGM, Member of the Conseil d’Honneur Mohamed Hammam, who is Chair of the Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs (OMGD) Committee, made presentations on Thursday, June 5 to the International Board (the Conseil d’Administration), on Friday 6th to the Conseil Magistral, and then on Saturday 7th to the Annual General Assembly.

Immediately after the General Assembly, Mohamed hosted a meeting of the OMGD for Échansons and Baillis Délégués. It was at this meeting that Julia Lindholm, CEO of Château de Malherbes, was invited to make a PowerPoint presentation about her pioneering winery in the heart of Bordeaux.

At the meetings, Mohamed reported on:
- the growth of the OMGD membership
- OMGD activities
- major developments
- upcoming OMGD International Grands Chapitres
- future development activities

OMGD in numbers
The OMGD reflected a year-to-date substantial increase of 20% in number of members from 5200 at the end of December 2024 to 6,220 as of June 4, 2025, and an increase of 10% in number of OMGD member countries from 52 to 57. The total number of OMGD members represents 26% of the total number of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs members.

2024-2025 Activities
During 2024-to date the focus was on further developing the OMGD membership level and activities. An overall general increase in events and activities was observed in all Bailliages having OMGD structures, thus creating an added value for their members, and encouraging awareness among the non-OMGD Chaîne members and their respective Bailliages.

Close contact was maintained with Baillis Délégués and Échansons with the aim of either assisting them to further developing the OMGD in their Bailliages, or to becoming member countries by establishing an OMGD structure in their Bailliages.

Major Developments
The ongoing negotiations between the Bailliage of USA and the OMGD International Committee regarding the invitation of the US Chaîne members becoming members of the OMGD International have finally yielded a fruitful result. In late 2024 the US National Board decided that with effect from January 2025, all US Chaîne members could voluntarily become OMGD members if they wish so. Over 500 members have already taken advantage of this opportunity.

A second major development has been a restructuring of the International OMGD Committee. It now comprises Mohamed Hammam continuing as Chair, with Finland’s Taina Vilkuna, and the USA’s Linda Reis McGovern joining as Committee Members.

Annual International OMGD Grands Chapitres
The 5th International OMGD Grand Chapitre was successfully held from September 25-29, 2024 in Spain with the attendance of a record 220 participants from 36 different countries. Much appreciation went to Rosa Román, Bailli Délégué of Spain who is a Member of the Conseil Magistral, and her national team for being excellent hosts of this event.

The 6th Grand Chapitre will take place on September 3-7, 2025 in and around Brussels, Belgium. Many thanks to the Bailli Délégué Ilse Duponcheel and her national team for accepting at short notice to host this event. Within six weeks they had prepared an eventful 4-day programme.

If you have not already done so, to review the detailed programme and to reserve your places, please use this link: chaine-des-rotisseurs1.odoo.com

Future International OMGD Grand Chapitres
These have been agreed as follows:
2026 (October 7-11) in Cape Town, South Africa
2027 (Dates to be advised) in Wiesbaden, Germany
2028 will be in Mexico all being well, we are currently in the initial discussion phase.

10th Annual International OMGD Meeting
The 10th Annual International OMGD Meeting took place on Saturday, June 7th, 2025, within the context of the Annual International Grand Chapitre & AGM in Paris. 44 Baillis Délégués and Échansons were in attendance.

It has become a tradition that a glass of wine is served to the participants during the meeting. However, this year for the first time we introduced a wine producer and a member of the Bailliage of France. Julia Lindholm, CEO of Château de Malherbes, made a presentation about her pioneering winery in the heart of Bordeaux. This was followed by a wine tasting whereby the participants were able to taste and enjoy three of their superb wines.

To view more about the Château de Malherbes, please visit www.chateaudemalherbes.fr and/or click the “Video” link at the left of this text to see a video presentation of the estate.

Future developments and activity plans
The foreseen future developments and activities that were discussed and agreed upon during the OMGD meeting were the following:
- concentrate all efforts of the National Bailliages as well as the International Committee on further encouraging more Chaîne members to join the OMGD.
- encourage National Bailliages without an OMGD structure to create one.
- Baillis Délégués to be encouraged to offer parallel CDR/OMGD memberships “where possible” for new candidates joining the Chaîne, as seen in some of the member countries who have up to 100% of their Chaîne members as OMGD members.

Decisions taken
With the introduction of the restructured OMGD International Committee, the following have been agreed upon by the Committee Members:
- The committee to meet virtually (via Zoom) once a month to discuss all OMGD related topics and required necessary action plans.
- the need for creating more concentrated awareness about the OMGD through various social media platforms.
- encourage more membership development in the USA.
- investigate resuming the international periodic virtual online wine and other alcoholic educational events, which we had held on a monthly basis in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID 19 Pandemic.
- investigating the possibilities of organizing future OMGD Grand Chapitres in the US wine regions.

Mohamed Hammam
Chair of the International OMGD Committee
Grand Échanson
Member of the Conseils d’Honneur and Magistral