The victors: Ludovic Ragot and David Cobbold

Yesterday morning David Cobbold and Ludovic Ragot, owner of the Café de la Promenade in Bourgueil, won a closely fought contest to take the Salon des Vins de Wine Blog  Contest 2012.  

After the votes on the internet had been counted and the jury deliberated, it came down to a blind tasting of three Loire wines – two whites and a red – for the four finalists. The first was a Touraine Sauvignon, which Ludo and David got right. The others correctly identified the grape variety but opted for Sancerre and Quincy. The second wine threw most of the finalists with David and Ludo opting for a Romorantin from Cour-Cheverny.

The finalists

Only Benjamin Poussardin and his partner correctly identified this wine as a Muscadet. With the red everyone got that it was a Cabernet Franc but no-one picked Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil although there was a guess for Bourgueil – pretty unlikley that Interloire would use a Bourgueil in their competition as this appellation declared UDI from Interloire at the end of 2010. David and Ludo did correctly identify the vintage – 2009. 

At the end of the three wines it was a dead heat between David and Ludo and Benjamin. The decider was a sparking white with the winner being the first team to identify that appellation. Benjamin went for a Vouvray, while David and Ludo opted for Saumur – they were right and took the trophy.

The runners up

Sophie Senty: winner of the internet vote

Marc and Hervé enjoying the spectacle

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Although it is pleasing that Les 5 du Vin – grâce à David – are this year's winners of the Wine Blog trophy. I do regret that the competition has rather lost its way recently through too many changes of format and rules. It is also much less ambitious than it was when it first started when there were international categories. This may be inevitable in these straitened times but the contest is in danger of becoming trivial and insubstantial rather than a serious attempt to recognise the contribution that blogs can make to enjoying and understanding Loire wines.