The penultimate qualifier round for this year’s Left Bank Bordeaux Cup took place in London, with both Imperial College London Business School and University of Cambridge succeeding in going through to the final.
The jury of the competition; the teams from University of Cambridge and ICLBS
It was the first time Imperial College London Business School (ICLBS) had participated in the competition, which this year took place in the Connaught Hotel in London on March 28th. Organised by the Commanderie du Bontemps for Medoc, Graves, Sauternes and Barsac, and sponsored by Decanter, the competition is now in its 14th year and had entries from 16 French teams, 13 US teams, 18 Asian teams and 7 European teams.
Contestants answered a range of theory-based multiple choice questions, such as “How many Classified Growths are there in the Moulis appellation?” or “Who wrote ‘I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best’?” They then participated in a blind tasting.
The ICLBS and Cambridge teams fought off stiff competition from other top UK universities, including London School of Economics, University of Oxford and University of St Andrews, as well Denmark’s Copenhagen Business School and HEC Lausanne from Switzerland.
Representing the University of Cambridge were students Lucy Yang, Nick Cooper and Mateausz Zelazny, and for ICLBS Horace Yu, Ranald Lai and Leon Lee. Once the winners were decided, contestants and guests enjoyed a sit down dinner, with wines including Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse 2004 and Chateau Gruaud Larose 2003.
The qualifying finalists from the first three rounds are UCLA Anderson and MIT Sloan (New York round), HK Baptist University (Hong Kong round) and Sichuan International Studies University (Shanghai Round), and the last round will be held in Paris on April 16th, before the final which will be held at Chateau Lafite Rothschild on Friday June 12th.
See also:
Written by Ellie Douglas