Battle of the palates

The tradition of two universities competing in a blind wine tasting is nothing new: in the UK, the annual Oxford and Cambridge taste off celebrates 60 years in 2013. Maties (StellenboschUniversity) versus Ikeys (University of Cape Town) might not have such a long history but the battle of the taste buds is fought with equal ferocity.

Five years ago Simon Back, himself an Ikey alumnus and marketing manager at the family farm, Backsberg, extended the event from just blind tasting to also include general knowledge and debating sections. Since last year, a third university, different each year, has participated in the Backsberg Vino Varsity competition.

It was my pleasure to be invited as one of three judges at this year’s event; Chris Williams, winemaker at Meerlust and under his own brand, The Foundry, and Mark Norrish, GM of Ultra Liquors Wine Division, were my fellow judges.

It was a noisy, fun affair as each team is encouraged to bring along supporters and cheerleaders; there were plenty for both the Maties and Ikeys but distance limited Tuks (University of Pretoria), this year’s third participating university, to four team members and seemingly one supporter – from Stellenbosch!

Strictly speaking our job as judges was limited to the debate on the proposed ban on alcohol advertising and its likely effects but Back got each of us to chip in with information during the general knowledge round.

Here it was a question of first to the bell to answer 30 questions on wine history, winemaking and international wines; the Maties, with a very experienced team leader and oenology student on their team of three, wiped the slate, often on the bell before Back had finished asking the question! From next year,  Back promises new regulations to limit the number of times any student may be on a team.

Next up came the blind tasting which us judges rather nervously also took part in (thankfully our results were not announced!). This wasn’t blind tasting #101: You have three Méthode Cap Classiques in front of you. Identify which has been on the lees the longest. Another example: All three wines are the same cultivar. Name the cultivar and which one comes from a warm climate. And so on over 10 questions.

High fives to the Maties again but matters were to change with round three, the debate, for which each team was supposed to speak for no longer than seven minutes.

Tuks team leader’s PowerPoint presentation set out the Minister of Health’s reasoning behind the potential ban, countering each benefit it is supposed to bring with an argument against, such as it’ll have little effect on the amount of alcohol consumed but will negatively affect the economy.

Maties’ two young ladies argued that socio-economic circumstances rather than advertising are the cause of alcohol abuse. They also pointed out that such a ban would have detrimental knock-on effects for tourism.

The Ikey trio, who did just exceed their time limit but won the round, also expressed the doubt that a ban on alcohol advertising would prevent abuse. One idea they promoted would be to use advertisements to inform about the dangers of such abuse, another to limit times when and where alcohol advertising could appear.

Despite this fine effort, Maties walked off with the Backsberg Vino Varsity trophy, followed by Tuks with Ikeys third. But winning is only a part of what this event is about; of equal importance is to encourage wine appreciation among this new generation of wine drinkers.

– Angela Lloyd