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Oxford wins Varsity blind wine tasting contest

20 February 2026 By Patrick Schmitt

On Tuesday this week, a team of wine-loving students from Oxford University beat Cambridge in the annual Varsity blind tasting content.

Oxford Captain and ‘top taster’ Julian Leidy. Picture credit: Martina Liberini / Pol Roger Portfolio

Taking place in London with the support of Champagne Pol Roger – which has sponsored the event since 1992 – the competition was the 73^rd since its foundation by the late Harvey’s director Harry Waugh in 1953.

Each university is allowed to put forward a team of seven students (including one reserve) – three of whom must be undergraduates – to compete in a timed tasting of six white and six red still wines (which are listed below).

According to Pol Roger Portfolio managing director, James Simpson MW, who chose the bottles for this year’s contest, among the wines were a few “bankers”, such as a Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough and a Syrah from Saint Joseph in the Northern Rhône.

Other samples were harder to detect, such as a Godello from Ribeira Sacra and a Cabernet Franc from Santa Barbara, which were not identified by any of the contestants – although some came close, with a few putting forward Albarino for the Spanish white wine, while one person correctly noted that the red was a Cabernet Franc, though they placed it in the Loire.

Speaking to db after the results were announced, one Cambridge taster, Tyler Myers, a US national who is doing an MPhil Toxicology at Churchill College, said that “the wines were fair, as well as misleading in a fun way.”

While the best ‘reserve’ taster – whose scores were not counted but would have been should there be a tie – was from Cambridge, the highest marks went to Oxford Captain, Julian Leidy, who led his team to victory this year.

Leidy, who is a postgraduate from the US doing a DPhil in History at Pembroke College, correctly identified the majority of the wines, including the Soave Classico in the flight of white wines.

The match took place at The Photographer’s Gallery in central London, with the lunch, reception and prize presentation taking place at Andrew Edmunds restaurant in Soho (pictured above).

Judging the competition was myself and Jancis Robinson OBE MW, with the tasting done using her Precision Universal Wine Glasses, made by Richard Brendon, although a few of the contestants brought their own stemware, opting for ISO wine tasting glasses.

Each team cleansed their palates before partaking in the test, with Cambridge choosing a Sancerre and Oxford opting for a Muscadet.

After the flight of whites, Cambridge was in fact 30 points ahead of its rival university, although Oxford did much better in the reds, ensuring it won overall.

The winning team is invited to Champagne Pol Roger’s headquarters in Épernay and to compete in an international tasting match against a French university.

As db has commented on in the past, former contestants in the Varsity Tasting have included famous figures of the wine world today, such as David Peppercorn MW, Jasper Morris MW, Mark Savage MW, Julian Jeffs, Oz Clarke and Charles Metcalfe, along with current head of Pol Roger Portfolio, James Simpson MW.

Another person who once competed for Oxford was former db editor and present contributor, Gabriel Stone (née Savage).

Please scroll down to see the members of each team in this year’s competition, as well as the wines in the tasting, all of which were bought from Lea & Sandeman.