Home>Cheers to 10 years of SPIT

17.04.2018

Cheers to 10 years of SPIT

This past month, SPIT, the Sciences Po International Tasting competition celebrated its 10th anniversary. A blind wine and champagne tasting competition organized by Sciences Po’s oenology association, In Vino Veritas, gathers each year twelve student teams from French and International universities at Maison Bollinger. 

This year the competition ended with a gala dinner at the Palais du Tau, in Reims, where the award ceremony took place. The winner of this edition was from the University of Oxford, followed by EM Lyon (2nd place) and ENSTA ParisTech (3rd).

The SPIT, a competition rooted in Reims with an international dimension 

On the eve of the competition, Arnaud Robinet, the Mayor of Reims, welcomed the twelve participating teams in the Old Kitchen of Sciences Po’s campus in Reims. Among the schools and universities present this year were the Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, ESSEC, the London School of Economics, Copenhagen Business School and -for the first time- the Australian National University. 

The jury was also international, composed of personalities such as David Cobbold, the presenter, and the president of the jury, Raimonds Tomsons, coming from Latvia and elected in 2017 Best Sommelier of Europe. 

A Competition of Excellence 

The competition that took place in Aÿ, within Maison Bollinger’s cellars, consisted of three blind tasting flights of three wines each. The participants were served in the first flight three Bollinger champagnes, and in the second they had to taste three white wines including a Coulée de Serrant 1990, the last series being a red wine flight with Château Palmer Historical XIXth Century Wine L20.14. This year’s participants were exceptionally served a fourth flight where they tasted the same wine in three glasses of different shapes, offered by the glass manufacturer Riedel. 

The three teams that scored the highest number of points reached the final round, during which they had to deliver an oral commentary on two carefully selected and prestigious wines. For the 10th edition of the SPIT, the final wines that were served were a Bollinger R.D. 1975 and a Romanée Conti 1975 from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. 

A Special Edition

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the competition and to wind up the event in style, In Vino Veritas organized a gala dinner at the Palais du Tau in Reims, attended by partners and sponsors as well as former participants and organizers. 

"The SPIT is a rendezvous of tradition, know-how, with a spin of innovation and youth! It's an encounter between ancient and rare wines such as Romanée-Conti 1975 and younger ones, between well-known houses of the wine world and innovating young actors like our partners of WineTech, as well as between professionals and students! The closing night at the Palais du Tau crystallized this state of mind: in this sumptuous room, a vestige of a Gallo-Roman palace, we were surrounded by works of contemporary art." - Agnès de Fortanier, President of In Vino Veritas - SPIT X

More information