On March 11, Vatel Bordeaux hosted the L’Étiquette – Blind Tasting Inter-School Wine Tasting Challenge created by Kedge in 2016.

Six teams of four students from the Kedge, the ESVV (School of wines and wine sciences), the EM Lyon and Vatel Bordeaux met to defend their schools’ colors.

In front of a jury made up of Jean-Marc Quarin, the creator of the Quarin Guide, the reference book for Bordeaux wines, and Alexandre Morin, the Head Sommelier at the Point Rouge, the students competed with each other in three different competitions:

• Blind testing of 4 white wines;
• Blind testing of 4 red wines;
• taste comments for the three teams making it into the finals.

A first experience for Vatel

This was quite a challenge for Vatel Bordeaux, who was participating in this kind of event for the very first time, with a team made up of Pierre Laloge, the president of the new Vintel oenology association, Adrien Galipaud, its vice-president, Lucia Song, an MBA Wine and Spirits Management student, and Valentine Jaouen, in her first international MBA year.

Our four challengers didn’t make it to the finals, but they only had praise for this competition.

“For us, we’ve just begun learning,” explained Pierre Laloge. He added: “Vintel is only three months old and it’s already an unbelievable opportunity for us to participate in an event like the L’Étiquette competition, to see how an event like this is organized and to listen to the priceless advice given by jury members on how to better understand wine and progress, for the next tasting events.”

And the winners are:

• The ESVV in first place
• The EM Lyon
• The Kedge team

“Since we’ve started this competition, we’ve received more and more requests from students who love wine and are curious; this enthusiasm is encouraging us to expand,” added Adrien Galipaud. “We’re currently working on events to be held beginning next September. So be patient, there will be loads of good times and discoveries down the road,” he promised.

To contact the association: [email protected]