Chile beats Bordeaux in blind tasting

Chilean wine Seña has beaten Bordeaux first growths and top Italian estates in a blind tasting in London.

Echoing the first tasting of its kind held last year in Hong Kong, the tasting pitted a vertical of Seña from 1995 to 2010 against international competitors in the shape of Lafite, Margaux, Sassicaia and Tignanello.

When the scores were added up at the end, it was found that Seña’s 2008 and 2010 had taken first and second place respectively, with the Lafite – 1995 – in last place.

Speaking to the drinks business, Eduardo Chadwick said that he had wanted to “expand” the tasting following the Hong Kong experiment “and again the results were wonderful,” he said.

He also pointed out that the gap between the top two wines and the joint third places, which were taken by 2005 Sassicaia and 2001 Margaux, “so they were clear favourites.”

The tasting held further echoes of a tasting in 2010 when Chilean wines performed well against first growths and top Italian and Napa Valley estates.

The full results with each wine’s scores were:

Seña 2008 – 81

Seña 2010 – 80

Sassicaia 2005 – 75

Margaux 2001 – 75

Seña 2001 – 73

Tignanello 2008 – 57

Seña 2005 – 52

Seña 1997 – 48

Seña 1995 – 43

Lafite 1995 – 31