The Revue du Vin de France, the leading French-language wine magazine, has been organising a World Blind Tasting Championship for the last ten years. Following national selections, teams from each country compete, each made up of 4 experienced tasters and a coach.
The 2023 edition of this competition took place on Saturday 14 October in the magnificent setting of Château Sainte-Roseline, an emblematic appellation of Provence. Thirty-three national teams competed to identify the twelve wines served blind, their countries, grape varieties, appellations, vintages and producers. At the end of the competition, the Romanian team was declared the winner.
Extract from the article on this event published by La Revue du Vin de France and the associated photo of the competitors:
“Shouts of joy resounded on 14 October in the great hall of the Château Sainte-Roseline in the Var. At the end of four hours of tasting at the RVF World Wine Tasting Championship, the Romanian team, made up of four tasters and a coach, won the competition in-extremis with 108 points, ahead of the Netherlands (107 points) and Denmark (95 points). France finished just off the podium (4 th) with 90 points.
“This victory is the result of a real team effort”, said an exultant Julia Scavo,a member of the Romanian team and Romania’s best sommelier of 2018. Since their first participation in 2019, the Romanians (Julia Scavo, Valentin Ceafalau, Horia Hasnas, Cosmin Udrea, Radu Rizescu (coach)) have been making steady progress (7 th in 2022, 9thin 2021).
During the final, the 33 teams tasted twelve wines from around the world (six whites and six reds), including four from France. Competitors had to identify: the grape variety(ies) (up to 10 points depending on the proportion of the grape variety in a blended wine and 10 points for a single-varietal wine), the country of origin (5 points), the appellation (5 points), the vintage (3 points) and the producer (3 points)”.
The organisers had invited the Ordre Illustre des Chevaliers de Méduse, of which Aurélie Bertin, co-owner of Château Sainte-Roseline, is Grand Hérault, to represent the wines of Provence at the gala dinner that brought the 2023 event to a close. It was a great opportunity to introduce this wine brotherhood and the F.I.C.B., and to talk about our federation’s interest in promoting individual expertise in the recognition of grape varieties and blends within brotherhoods. We hope that our members in the countries concerned will be able to forge links with their country’s national teams at this world championship, and thus benefit from their experience
The Grand Master of the Ordre de Méduse, Patrick Pons, F.I.C.B. Vice-President for the South of France, announced that the 53rd F.I.C.B. Congress would be held in Provence Côte d’Azur in 2026.
A few hours earlier, the Ordre de Méduse had held its general meeting and discussed, among other things, the preparations for our 2026 Congress, which will be the subject of a presentation at our 2024 general meeting.
For more details on the World Blind Tasting Championship, see the following link: https://www.larvf.com/suivez-en-direct-la-10e-edition-du-championnat-du-monde-de-degustation-a-l-aveugle-de-la-rvf,4804378.asp
For a presentation of the “F.I.C.B. practical guide to organising blind grape variety and appellation recognition competitions”, click here.
See more information and a video of the event on the La Provence snewspaper website
