EM Lyon edges Oxford in blind tasting ‘thriller’

French business school EM Lyon has beaten Oxford and Edinburgh at the Pol Roger International Inter-University Wine Tasting match.

The winning EM Lyon team

Held in Epernay on 30 May, the 13^th edition of the competition was judged the “most challenging and exciting” yet.

As usual the three teams tasted 12 French wines – six white and six red – blind before submitting their answers to this year’s judges, Pol Roger Portfolio’s director of Fine Wine, Cassidy Dart, and consultant sommelier, Costa.

When it came to the results Edinburgh came in third but, to everyone’s surprise and for only the second time in 13 years, Oxford and Lyon tied.

The teams were given five minutes to taste one more wine in a sudden death decider.

Oxford called a Left Bank Bordeaux, probably Pauillac from the 2000 vintage, Lyon a southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape from 2002.

With the revelation that the wine was in fact a 2004 Château Beaucastel, lyon walked away the winners – the team having also triumphed at the SPIT and Concours de degustation inter-grandes écoles ealier in the year.

Oxford’s Ang Jit Hang Jackie did come away as this year’s best taster however and the judges did note that the British teams were far more concise than their “romantic” French counterparts, achieving the same number of points in 12 words as their opponents managed in close to 80.

White wines tasted this year included: a Savignan, a Sancerre – which apparently confused quite a lot of tasters who thught it was Alsatian – a 100% Rolle from the Côte de Provence and a Crozes Hermitage.

For the reds the line-up included a Fleurie, a Savigny-les-Beaune, St Joseph and a Samur Cabernet Franc.