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‘Cutthroat’ sport of wine tasting happening in B.C.

BC Tasting Games are underway with competitions in three Okanagan communities.
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Sandra Oldfield winemaker and industry leader is one of the celebrity judges at the Penticton event. (Submitted photo)

Billed as the sport of wine drinkers, the Terroir Consulting’s BC Tasting Games are coming to Penticton May 14 at the Shatford Centre.

Hosted by Master of Wine Rhys Pender, the Games are described as a “cutthroat, hilarious blind tasting competition” with an opportunity for the wine-loving audience to taste the same wines as the experts on stage.

In each of the four events, a wine industry celebrity will go up against a chef and sommelier to blind taste five wines.

The evening begins with a quick how-to-blind-taste wine tutorial from Pender and then the game is on.

The wine celebrity competing in Penticton is Sandra Oldfield. She pioneered sustainable winemaking in B.C., built Tinhorn Creek Winery and runs the Fortify Conference as well as the popular industry #bcwinechat on Twitter.

Fortify is an artisan fermenters and distillers business conference and tradeshow that will take place this year at the Penticton Lakeside Resort and Conference Centre in November.

The first in the series of tasting games took place Tuesday in Oliver with the second scheduled for Kelowna on May 7, with the finale set for Kelowna on May 21.

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During the events, the wine experts will debate what they taste in the glass on stage and people can expect some heated discussions and a few bluffs as the experts use their wine savvy to guess the mystery wine.

Audience members will do the same and at the end of the night what was in the glasses will be revealed and the top scoring wine celebrity and audience member will earn the right to compete on stage in the finale in Kelowna.

READ ALSO: Okanagan Taste: Time to get your game on

The title of Best Wine Taster in B.C. is up for grabs and anyone can win.

Proceeds from the evening will benefit the Okanagan College viticulture program and the Start Fresh Kitchen cooking school.

Tickets are available at https://tastinggames.ca.


 

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Christina Hartigan is the winner of the 2019 Sommelier of the Year Tasting is a celebrity judge at the Penticton event. (Submitted photo)
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Award-winning chef and sommelier Mark Filatow is the third celebrity judge for the Penticton Tasting Games event. (Submitted photo)