Spain World Blindfold Wine-Tasting champions for third year running

SPAIN has won the World Blindfold Wine-Tasting championship for the third year running, knocking Belgium and Sweden into second and third place.

The competition, held in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south of France was organised by the magazine La revue du vin de France and involved a team having to guess the country, the type of grape and even the region of the wine.

Spain was represented by a team made up of oenologists Philippe Cesco, José Aragunde, Roberto Santana and Alfonso Torrente, who gained 140 points – two points more than Belgium and 25 more than Sweden.

The Spanish team had only met once before to prepare for the contest and, although they were thrilled to win, but were 'disappointed with themselves' for not having successfully identified the Bollinger.

Teams participating came from Andorra, France, Russia, the UK, Poland, Portugal, Québéc in Canada, Finland, South Africa, China, Argentina, Luxembourg, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Switzerland and the USA – which came last with 69 points.

Wines came from New Zealand, Germany, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Spain, South Africa and, naturally, France.

Spain's entry was a 2006 tempranillo grape variety from the wine merchant Quinta Sandoria.