Surprises at a Blind Tasting that Confronted Moldova with French Grand Crus
Several wines from the Republic of Moldova (including Radacini Reserve, Negru de Purcari, and Bad Boys Carpe Diem) triumphed over French Grand Crus (Chateau Talbot, Chateau le Puy, Lafon-Rochet) in a blind tasting conducted by professionals in South Korea.
The event, called the Discovery of Daejeon, is organized as part of the Asia Wine Trophy. Each year, a different theme is chosen, and this year’s edition surprisingly announced a battle between Moldova and France (probably inspired by the famous Paris Wine Tasting, where French wines were blind-tasted against American ones).
I was an observer at a similar event in 2019 and know the level at which it is organized. Here are some details about the tasting mechanics.
So, nine of the most renowned experts are seated at a table in public and taste the wines blindly, with their scores displayed in real-time on a screen. Another approximately 50 tasters watch them from the hall (they also taste but do not influence the results). The event is broadcast live in the hall and online for distributors in various Asian countries – Taiwan, China, Japan, Vietnam.
This year, nine top experts judged:
- 3 top sommeliers, all champions of the Korean Best Sommelier Competition:
- Woong Hwangbo (2022)
- Juyong Kim (2021)
- Hyeon Cheol Cho (2017, 2018 and 2020)
- 3 DipWSET holders (the level preceding the Master of Wine title):
- Junghwan Byun (Coreea),
- Taehyun Choi (Coreea),
- Lili Tong (China).
- 3 media representatives:
- Hyeon Tae Choi (Coreea),
- Dr. Wookseong Kim (Coreea),
- Dr. Matthew Horkey (USA) – the most popular YouTube channel about wine in English.
The wines were selected by the organizers from samples already present in the South Korean market, with three rounds of tastings organized.
In the first round, the victory went to a Premier Cru Chablis from France.
The first surprise came when the red wines Radacini Reserve 2019 and 2020 Chateau le Puy Cuvee Emilien were pitted against each other. The majority opted “blind” for the Moldovan wine, which is twice as cheap as its opponent. Reserve 19 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, aged for 12 months in barrique.
Interestingly, Le Puy appeared in the Japanese manga sensation — The Drops of God. In its televised version, with an audience of millions, the same label, from the 2003 vintage, was declared the best wine in the world.
The icing on the cake was served in the 3rd round. The judges tasted five wines in sequence, being asked to rank them in descending order.
Here you see the order of serving blind.
And here was the final result:
- Bad Boys Carpe Diem 2018
- Freedom Blend Purcari 2021
- Negru de Purcari 2020
- Chateau Lafon Rochet 2018
- Chateau Talbot 2020
All three Moldovan red wines surpassed the French wines, with Bad Boys 2018 Carpe Diem leading the pack.
Another curious fact: Chateau Talbot became the most popular Bordeaux Grand Cru in Korea after Guus Hiddink, who successfully led the Korean national football team to the 2002 World Cup, said he liked Chateau Talbot wine.
The organizers mentioned that several distributors expressed increased interest after this event, highlighting the competitiveness of Moldovan wines.
