Kenya’s Wine Team Shines in France

Earlier this month, the 12^th annual World Blind Tasting Competition, organized by Revue du Vin de France, took place in Bordeaux, France.  

This prestigious international event, often called the "Wine Olympics," is one of the most challenging wine competitions. Each team consists of four tasters and a captain who does not taste or smell the wines. Kenya was proudly represented by a team of four Kenyan women—Joy Adero, Soraiya Ladak, Janet Kangethe, and Kenyalyn Oddenyo—with team captain Victoria Mulu-Munywoki. Competing for the third time, Team Kenya surpassed several established teams, including England, in this year’s competition.

The event was held on Saturday 12 October at Château Dauzac, Grand Cru Classé 1855, in Margaux. This year, 40 countries sent teams comprising some of the world’s best wine tasters. At stake is the world title of “best blind taster.”

In the formal competition, each team blind tastes 12 wines from around the world, with no set rules on the number of French vs. foreign wines. Each team has ten minutes per wine to complete tasting sheets that describe each selection, and every taster is given the same type of glass.

Points are given in each category that teams must name correctly.

For each wine, teams identify the wine’s main variety, country, the appellation, and the vintage; points are allocated for each category.  To identify such wine qualities, tasters must engage in a rigorous process of training, including scent and taste, but also wine history and geography.  

The team with the most points is crowned world champion! 

Among this year’s 40 countries were only two African teams: South Africa (which ranked 26) and Kenya (which ranked 30). This score for Kenya is cause for celebration: they were only two spots behind France and outranked England. 

To perform well, Team Wine Kenya focused on a rigorous training schedule, often at 10am on Saturdays. The team invited me to join a pre-France training. While it might sound surprising to start tasting wine in the morning, this is a necessity for training one’s palate.

Such training requires everyone to be far from intoxicated. The night before, members must sleep well; trainings involve focus and discipline. Members must remember past wines tasted, comparing them to current selections, on areas including aroma, acidity, body, and aftertaste.   

All five members are WSET sommeliers either at levels 2 or 3, working in various roles of Kenya’s wine industry. Soraiya is a wine importer, distributor, and owner of The Wine Shop in Loresho. Janet represents Social House, while Joy works with Wow Beverages and Le Canter. Kenyalyn is a Cordon Bleu Chef, while Vicky is a wine consultant and educator. 

And the team for Team Wine Kenya goes beyond the five women: they are supported by their families and friends as well as dozens of businesses cheering them from key sponsors such as The Wine Shop and Baron & Guestier (providing accommodation and training in France), and Kenyan importers including The Wine Box, Devries, and Le Decanter, to name a few.

While wine remains a male-dominated industry around the world, it’s so distinctive that Team Wine Kenya, and Team Wine USA, were the only all-women teams among the 40 countries. This year, Soraiya told me that she noticed more women included in several other teams. 

Let’s continue to cheer on Team Wine Kenya for leading the way, not only in tasting wine, but also in encouraging greater diversity in global industries, such as wine!