France takes the world blind tasting crown

France beat reigning champions Belgium on Saturday in the second annual world blind tasting championship held at House Bollinger near Épernay, Champagne.

Competitors were given 12 wines from around the world, of which four were French, and asked to determine the main grape variety, country of production, name, producer and vintage, reported France’s SudOuest.

18 teams of four people, from countries including China, Russia, Argentina and Brazil, competed but the French team dominated, managing to identify all five criteria for three of the wines tasted, a record for the competition.

The winning quartet, from Toulouse in Southwest France, was made up of Jean-Michel Perrussan Eddy Gautier, Didier Sanchez and Pierre Cistern and won the competition ahead of Belgium in second place and Spain in third.

Full time Radiologist, part-time taster and captain of the French team Jean-Michel Perrussan, said the key was a measured approach: “You have to trust your intuition, often the first impression given by nose or taste puts us on the right track then we must use a process of elimination.”

At 53, Perrussan trains once a week with friends in an amateur wine club in Toulouse where he tastes up to 1,000 wines a year.

Speaking to SudOuest, Philippe de Cantenac, a journalist for the French wine monthly behind the event, said the third championships would be held next October at Châteauneuf-du-Pape.