"20 sur Vin" competition: The great schools compete

The famous Commanderie du Bontemps tasting competition welcomes this year, for its tenth anniversary, candidates from all over the world!

A real challenge for the oenology clubs of French universities and grandes écoles. Verdict in June!

Chaired by Baron Eric de Rothschild, owner of Château Lafite, the “20 sur Vin” competition was born in 2002 at the initiative of the Commanderie du Bontemps. As part of its mission to promote wines from the left bank (Médoc, Graves, Sauternes and Barsac), the Commanderie establishes, with this annual competition, a logical rapprochement between the great wines and the well-made heads.

Mines, Polytechnique, Centrale Paris… Many wine clubs from French Grandes Ecoles and universities compete each year to affirm their tasting skills. In 2004, “20 sur Vin” opened up internationally with the arrival of two candidate English schools, Oxford and Cambridge, then this year with new challengers from other continents.

The two respective teams from the United States and Asia have already been selected: The Wharton School and Harvard Business School, College of Business and Finance University of Hong Kong and NTU Wine Society of Singapore.

The selection of the two European teams, including Oxford and Cambridge, will take place on April 9, 2011, while the two French finalist teams will make themselves known on Thursday May 5 from among 12 candidate schools: Université Paris Dauphine, ENS Lyon, ESSEC, ESC Lille, Polytechnique, Mines, Centrale, EDHEC Lille, ENS Paris, ESCP Europe, HEC, Sciences Po.

The two best French universities/schools will compete against the six foreign teams in the grand final which will take place on Friday June 17, 2011 at Château Lafite-Rothschild, as part of Vinexpo Bordeaux. On the program, a multiple-choice questionnaire and a tasting test.

Last year, Dauphine and Polytechnique stood out at the top of the ranking, ahead of Oxford and Cambridge. This year, we will have to redouble our talent to face these new foreign palates!

Source: Audrey Dubourdieu
The review of French wine
24 Feb 2011