FRANCE DETHRONES BELGIUM

21 Oct 2014 By Xin Hui Helder-Eng

The French have done it again. They gave their opinion, and got awarded for it.

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.

On Saturday, all that hard work’s paid off as he, along with his team-mates are crowned winners at the World Blind-Wine-Tasting Competition, unseating reigning champion Belgium.

The annual event, launched last year, was held in the eastern French town of Ay and drew four-member teams from 18 countries, including Spain, China, Russia and Argentina.

The teams had to taste (some amazing) wines and identify their countries of origin, the grape varieties used in them, their appellations, and their vintages.

The Winning Quartet are: Jean-Michel Perrussan, Eddy Gautier, Didier Sanchez and Pierre Citerne, from the southern Toulouse region of France.

— Sources confirm the third championships would be held next October at Châteauneuf-du-Pape.