Grape Wall Challenge III: Best white wines under RMB100

I already covered the top five red wines from the third annual Grape Wall Challenge, held on Tuesday in Modo restaurant in Beijing. Now it is time for the white wines. As noted before, the Grape Wall Challenge features consumers as judges and focuses on bottles that retail for under rmb100.

Judges were asked to try each wine and put it in one of four categories: “love it”, “like it”, “don’t like it” or “hate it”. We awarded four points for “love it”, three points for “like it”, and so on. Judges had space to leave comments and list their “top three” wines.

The consumer judges on the white wine panel ranged from a social media expert to a master’s student to a food blogger to marketing professionals. A handful of mainstream media judges also gave it a shot, including from China Daily, City Weekend, New Western Cuisine and The Wall Street Journal. As with the red wine session, one wine was disqualified as it turned out to be over the rmb100 point (wine number 10 for those judges who were present).

The five white wines with the highest scores (and select comments from the judges)…

1

Warrane Sticky Beak Chardonnay 2010 (Australia)

(China Wine and Spirits, rmb87)

“perfectly sweet for me”

~

2

Barremont Chardonnay 2010 (France)

(Mercuris, rmb89)

“love the strong grape flavor afterward”

Trivento Torrontes 2010 (Argentina)

(Summergate, rmb95)

“rose smell”, “smooth”, “like a butterfly passing a rose garden”

~

4

Kleinze Zalze Chenin Blanc 2010 (South Africa)

(Torres China, rmb99)

“fragrant and balanced”, “tastes smooth”

~

5

LoTengo Torrontes 2010 (Argentina)

(ASC, rmb88)

“fruit and cheese”, “soy sauce”

~

In terms of media judges, Pierre Chanier Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from France (East Meets West, rmb97) and Two Oceans from South Africa (ASC, rmb80) fared well. And for “top three” finishes, Trivento and  Kleine Zalze made three lists, while Sticky Beak and Santa Ana Torrontes from Argentina (Aussino, rmb77) made multiple lists. Argentina did well with its Torrontes wines in this one…

I’ll have a final wrap-up post, which will include some challenges of doing The Challenge, some trends revealed in the past three contests, and more,  in case this is of use. I’ll also post a list of places to buy the winning wines, though that will have to wait until I get North by Northwest done tomorrow.

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