Music executive wins Oddbins' Palate of the year competition

By Erin Smith

Published: 12 September, 2013

Chloe Dickson, a 27-year-old music-publishing executive from Highbury, North London, overcame nearly 10,000 other competitors to win Oddbins "the Palate", competition to find the best amateur wine palate in the UK.

The Palate was introduced by Oddbins to demonstrate that anyone, regardless of background or training, has the taste buds to appreciate wine.

Ayo Akintola, Oddbins managing director, said the Palate competition is an important part of the company's continuing commitment to consumer engagement.

He added: "The Palate is proof that through consumer engagement the industry can break down the reliance upon price promotion and really educate our customers on the true value of wine. We were amazed that over the year since the last competition our customers have developed an incredibly acute understanding of the true price of wines."

Oddbins

The initial 10,000 entrants were eliminated in three rounds of blind wine tastings bringing the number of finalists down to just 12 remaining competitors. After a short crash course in wine tasting, entrants took part in a taste challenge, which included three blind wines and a food pairing, and six of the 12 contestants were selected for a final challenge.

The overall winners was chosen after a final blind tasting including six wines with contestants asked to answer questions around the wines' flavours, aromas, varietals,country of origin and food pairings.

As part of her prize Dickson has won a 10-day trip for to Australia and New Zealand to visit wineries with additional spending money.She also won the opportunity to select a wine that will be added to Oddbins' range and selected Manz Platónico, a red blend from Portugal.

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