Student teams from NYU Stern and Yale universities have booked their place in the final of this year's Left Bank Bordeaux Cup after beating off stiff competition at a qualifying event in New York.
Teams battle it out at the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup qualifying round in New York. Image credit: Commanderie du Bontemps / French Consulate
It is the first time NYU Stern will be represented at the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup final, which will include teams from around the world and takes place in the cellars of Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux in June.
To get there, both Stern and Yale law school had to fend off a challenge from Wharton University, which has never failed to make the final in three years of entering the annual competition.
‘They were a little disappointed, but that’s the game,’ said Marie Mezy-Saubot, directrice of the Bordeaux-based Commanderie du Bontemps, which organises the global event.
Wharton was one of seven teams who missed out on this year’s final, after braving the snow and icy conditions to reach the US qualifying round at the French Consulate on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
‘The weather was awful, but all the students were really enthusiastic,’ Mezy-Saubot told decanter.com.
Questions put to the US teams included: which late Bordeaux chateau owner served as a Major in the American army during World War Two? The answer is Russian-born Alexis Lichine, who after the war owned Chateau Prieure-Lichine and was part-owner of Chateau Lascombes.
Students also had to state the number of classified 2nd growths in St Julien – there are five – and whether Haut-Brion is classified for red or white wine, or both. It is only classified for red. There was also a tasting round, which included a game of guess the vintage year.
NYU Stern and Yale must now wait to see who they will face in June’s final. Further qualifying rounds will take place for Asia in March, to be held in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In April, 2013 current champion Cambridge University will begin its defence of the cup at a qualifier in London, which will be open to all of Europe excluding France.
French universities and schools will have their own qualifying round in May. A total of 46 teams globally have entered this year’s competition.
