The three finalists begin the Champagne pour from a magnum into 18 glasses


Martin celebrates his victory


wife’s 30 birthday and to choose a special bot- tle of red and white for them – that it’s his birthday today, too (it really was). He chooses a Bâtard-Montrachet 1985 with the lobster salad and a Côte-Rôtie for the côte de boeuf – the former a particularly nice touch as the recommended white wine is the same age as the birthday-celebrating guest. Martin completes the task with a minute to spare. Bourger, meanwhile, completes his restau- rant scenario task on a nail-biting finish, though still manages to smoothly decant the Lynch-Bages and fill his guest in on the wine’s merits.


Bardary loses a point for winking at the only female guest in the ‘restaurant’ (Kathrine Larsen), but regains his equilibrium with a slick move to upsell when he suggests open- ing a second magnum for the neighbouring table when his guest asks him to take them all a glass of bubbly with his compliments. There follows another quick-fire round of images projected onto an overhead screen which all the finalists try to identify. The images are all key wine personalities or wine paraphernalia, from Miguel Torres and Paul


“Hands are visibly trembling as they complete their task in silence”


Symington to a vertical ovoid tank and the exterior of Hospices de Beaune.


The final pour Then it’s the moment the audience has been waiting for. The finalists need to tap into their energy reserves for this last test – pouring out 18 equal glasses of Champagne from a mag- num of Moët & Chandon in one go, without re-visiting a glass, and within six minutes. Hands are visibly trembling as they com- plete their task in silence, wiping the neck of the bottle with a white linen napkin as they go to minimise any drips. “Fifty-four glasses aren’t going to go round,” ponders audience member and master of wine Peter McCombie,


surveying the crowded room where people are lined up at the back to watch the final minutes. Task complete, the finalists leave the room, while the judges retreat to confer, leaving Scade and Basset to deftly fill in the time by revealing answers to tests and describing the grand prize for the lucky winner. All the national finalists have already been on a trip to Moët & Chandon in Épernay for an in-depth tour and technical tasting (see page 50), while the winner will benefit from a ‘money can’t buy’ mentoring program. The winner also receives an educational trip to one of Europe’s top vineyards, courtesy of Matthew Clark, with other prizes that include a much-coveted Coravin wine preservation system and Riedel glassware. All three finalists then line-up on stage and


await the announcement, and Martin lets out an ear-piercing whoop as he is declared the winner. “The competition just gets better every year – the standard is improving each time. I would like to be served by any of our three finalists, but Tanguy had the edge today,” grins Basset, of his protégé. And everyone seemed happy with that.


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