The couple who won 35,000 euros in one day by blindly guessing fourteen wines

MadridMaxime France and Pierre Citerne are the winning couples of the seventeenth Vila Viniteca Couples Tasting Competition, held this Sunday at the Casino de Madrid. For the first time in the competition organized by Catalans Quim Vila and Cisco Martí, the winners took home 35,000 euros. Peter Srijs and Stijin Verleyen came in second, and Alberto Botía Gomzález and Eduardo Dequidt Herrero came in third.

At nine in the morning, anyone walking down Calle de Alcalá in Madrid realized something was happening. The entire street was empty, but a thick cloud of people gathered in front of the casino door, waiting for the organizers of the couples tasting competition to let them in and sit in one of the two rooms that had been set up with long tables with white tablecloths and chairs.

For the first time, 135 couples participated in the competition invented seventeen years ago by Quim Vila and Cisco Martí of Vila Viniteca. Not only was the number of participants unprecedented, but so was the amount they could win if they placed among the top three couples: the first, 35,000 euros; the second, 10,000; and the third, 5,000 euros. In other words, the wine shop on Agullers Street in Barcelona and distributor Vila Viniteca, for the first time in the competition's seventeen years, had committed to giving away 50,000 euros in prizes. Registration, which took place on January 10 through the Vila Viniteca website, sold out in three minutes from participants from various countries: Catalonia, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Poland, Hungary, China, Switzerland, Slovenia, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

So, at a few minutes past ten in the morning, the contest began, which consisted of blindly guessing seven wines. For parelles have to write in some documents (sense the use of mobiles or intelligent clocks, nor try to fer trapes aixecant-se to go to the toilet to consult information) the country (1 point), the zone of origin (1 point), the denomination of origin (2 points), the varietats of berries (3 points), the anyada (3 points), the producer (3 points) and the brand (2 points). In case of a tie in the scores, the comment that the couples could also leave written, helped the jury to tip the balance.

And speaking of the jury, notary José Luis López de Garayo oversaw the entire process, followed by the organizers, Quim Vila and Cisco Martí; the sponsor, Jordi Segura, the European representative of the Riedel glass brand; winemaker Xandra Falcó; sommelier Paz Levinson; the president of the tasting room, Juan Muñoz; the creator of the Peñín guide, José Peñín; and the president of the jury, Fernando Gurrucharri.

After two and a half hours, the first phase of the competition was over, and the jury collected all the participants' forms, kept in envelopes, and locked themselves in an office to read them. 135 documents had to be read, scored, and sorted to select the ten best pairs.

At 2:00 p.m., the jury emerged from their office and announced the seven wines they had chosen. And then the first emotions began. Quim Vila declared that no one had guessed three of the seven wines, and then the contestants' disappointments began to appear. He then announced the names of the couples who had qualified, and shouts and hugs filled the royal hall. There were also sad faces, those who had been trying for years, for whom qualifying for the semifinals would already be a great success. Fortunately, next year Vila Viniteca will organize another couples tasting, which will take place in Barcelona.

Ten couples in the final

At 4 p.m., the final began. The ten couples sat at long tables with white tablecloths, with space between them so they couldn't talk or look at the papers they were writing. Quim Vila told them they had one hour to guess seven wines under the same conditions: they couldn't look at mobile phones, smartwatches, or any documents. They could only talk to each other.

Finally, just a few minutes before 7 p.m., the jury went out to the royal room, where the finalists were seated, surrounded by family, friends, and other participants. Quim Vila explained the most important details of the day, including the 6,000 Riedel glasses that had been rumored about the casino during the non-contest hours. He then revealed the names of the wines and, finally, those of the winners. The third and second place finishers celebrated their prize with great joy, while the first place finishers, more restrained by nature and with the same discretion they had shown when they qualified, received the check for 35,000 euros from the co-owner of Vila Viniteca, Cisco Martí.

The wines that the contestants had to guess in the semi-final (qualifying phase)

• PSI 2021, Ribera del Duero
• La Grange des Pères 2018, Languedoc-Roussillon
• Buçaco Branco Místico 2017, Portugal
• Jacquesson La Cuvée 742 Dégorgement Tardif, Champagne
• The O by L'Origan Brut Nature Edition 13, DO Cava
• Ca' Del Bosco Annamaria Clementi 2014, Franciacorta
• Alvear Pedro Ximénez 1927, Montilla-Moriles

The wines of the final

• Agrapart & Hilos Terroirs White of Whites Extra Brut, Champagne
• Sandhi Romance Chardonnay 2022, California
• Pazo Barrantes Gran Vino Albariño 2021, Rías Baixas
• Paternina Gran Reserva 1962, Rioja
• Coleraine Mata Tea 2021, New Zealand
• Château Latour Las Fuertes de Latour 2018, Bordeaux
• Marchesi Antinori Solaia 2020, Tuscany