The Oxford Wine Company v The Cambridge Wine Merchants
Ted Sandbach, MD of The Oxford Wine Company challenged Hal Wilson MD of The Cambridge Wine Merchants to a blind tasting match in February this year. The event was held in the upstairs function room at Portabello Restaurant in South Parade, Oxford on Wednesday 20th April with each team consisting of five members from each company.
The match was invigilated and marked by Oxford University Varsity team blind tasting coach Hanneke Wilson who provided the mystery wines from a variety of different sources. Both teams were given five whites and five reds and asked to identify them – they tasted the whites first, followed by the reds and were given just 35 minutes for each flight in which to identify the wines.
After the marking Richard Siddle, Gemma McKenna and Laura Clark from Harpers Wine & Spirit Magazine joined the teams for the result. After a hard fought match both teams were close and Hanneke Wilson announced that The Oxford Wine Company had scored 462 points against The Cambridge Wine Merchants' 421 making Oxford the the winners. The top individual score of the match went to John Chapman with 110 points, closely followed by Theo Sloot on 99 points – both members of The Oxford Wine Company’s team. Ted was awarded the engraved silver goblet and announced there will be a return match next year to be held in Cambridge adding:
“This was a fun occasion taken seriously but enjoyed at the same time. As two of the top Independent wine companies in the UK we enjoyed learning more about each other’s businesses and building a stronger bond between our two companies.”
After the match we all celebrated the occasion with an excellent meal downstairs in Portabello restaurant that went on well into the night!
The wines tasted were:
Gruner Veltliner, Smaragd 2008 Domane Wachau
Pinot Gris 2005 Leon Beyer
Calera Viognier 2009, Central Coast, California,
Albarino 2009, Rias Baixas, Pazo Senorans
La Boca Loca 2008, Coteaux du Languedoc, St Daumury
Two Paddocks Pinot Noir 2008 Central Otago
Chinon 2009 Les Complices de Loire
Rosso di Montalcino 2008 Camigliano
St Joseph Offerus 2007, J L Chave
Montsant 2006 Finca l'Argata
