Organiser's contacts

Questions about the competition, a result, a voucher or a prize: info@vinum.md, WhatsApp/Viber +373 69 108 919, Telegram @daniil_ujacov.

The address no-reply@vinum.estate, from which sign-in links arrive, is a service address and is not read — there is no need to reply to it. All correspondence goes to info@vinum.md.

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1. The nature of the competition

The competition is a contest of skill, not a game of chance. A participant's result is determined solely by how closely their sensory assessment of a wine matches the assessment of a group of professional sommeliers; the competition contains no draws, raffles or random selection of winners at any layer.

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2. Period

Season: from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 inclusive.

• All deadlines, month boundaries and moments of voucher issue and expiry are calculated in Europe/Chișinău time, including the change to winter time on the last Sunday in October.
• A rating counts towards the season and the calendar month in which it was completed in Moldovan time.
• The Organiser may extend or end the season early, giving notice on the site. Ending it early does not cancel vouchers already issued and does not deprive participants of prizes already awarded.

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3. Who may take part

• Natural persons aged 18 and over. Age is confirmed at registration.
• Participation is possible on the territory of the Republic of Moldova; layer 2 and layer 3 prizes (bottles) are handed over in person on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
• One person, one account.
• Employees of the Organiser, the group of sommeliers, the moderator and the assistant of the tasting evening, and employees of partner shops do not take part in the competition and receive no prizes. The group of sommeliers knows the benchmark values — its participation would make the contest meaningless.

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4. How to take part

1. Buy a bottle with a VINUM Degustator Challenge sticker (a unique QR code).
2. Scan the code, confirm your age, register (first name, surname, email), and accept these rules and the privacy policy.
3. Taste the wine and rate it on 15 axes on a 0–10 scale.
4. Submit the rating and receive the result.

4.1. The one-rating-per-wine rule

One account may rate each wine of the season once. Rating the same wine again is technically impossible (a unique index in the database), including from a new bottle and a new sticker. Rating a different wine is always available — the season contains twelve wines.

4.2. The code-consumption rule

A sticker's code is treated as used at the moment a tasting is completed, not at the moment it is opened. An unfinished tasting does not consume the code: it remains usable both by the same participant and by any other person who opens that bottle. A refusal under rule 4.1 likewise does not consume the code.

4.3. Showing the benchmark

After a rating is submitted, the participant is shown once the shape (outline) of the sommelier group's radar, without numerical values. The numerical benchmark values for all wines are published after the season ends (from 1 December 2026).

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5. How the result is determined

Accuracy is calculated as the normalised deviation of the participant's rating from the median of the sommelier group's ratings on each axis. Normalisation is performed for each wine separately, so that an "easy" wine gives no advantage over a "difficult" one.

A wine's benchmark is calculated as the average of the ratings of seven sommeliers who took part in the preliminary tasting of that wine.

The accuracy formula and its parameters are stored in the system configuration and are the same for every participant and every wine.

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6. Prizes

6.1. Layer 1 — the instant prize for every tasting

Every layer 1 prize is a fixed-value discount on a purchase, not a transfer of alcohol. A voucher is not a means of payment, is not exchanged for money and confers no right to receive goods free of charge.

The voucher received must be used on the vinum.md website, in the online shop, at the checkout page.

6.2. Voucher terms

• Single use: one code, one redemption.
• Validity — 60 days from issue. The end of the season does not by itself terminate a voucher already issued.
• Minimum basket: the voucher applies to an order of at least the stated amount; the amount may be made up of several items.
• Not combinable with other vouchers or promotional discounts; one voucher per purchase.
• No change is given, and no cash equivalent is paid.
• Redemption: at the checkout page of the vinum.md online shop, or in a partner shop, where an employee checks the code and marks it redeemed.
• Transfer to another person is permitted: the prize goes to whoever redeems the code first.

6.3. Layer 2 — monthly prizes (September, October, November)

Two categories: "Red" and "White and sparkling" (a shared category; sparkling wines are rated on their own 15 axes, and it is the accuracy scores that compete).

• The condition for entering a category in a month is at least 2 different wines of that category, rated in that month.
• The winner is the participant with the highest mean accuracy across their ratings in that category in that month.
• Ties are broken in this order: best single result of the month → a greater number of distinct wines → the earlier submission.
• If no participant in a category meets the two-wine condition, no winner is determined for that month and the prize is not carried over to the next month.
• Prize: one bottle of the winner's choice from the VINUM estate catalogue, together with a feature on the site and on the Organiser's social channels.

6.4. Layer 3 — the season prize

• A single award: the highest mean accuracy across the season, with a minimum of 4 different wines.
• The mean accuracy is adjusted for the number of wines rated: the more wines a participant has rated, the more their own mean counts as it stands, rather than being pulled towards the season mean. So a mean over ten rated wines carries more weight than the same mean over four — holding accuracy across ten wines is the harder thing.
• If fewer than ten participants meet the four-wine condition, the Organiser may lower the minimum to 3 wines; such a decision is taken before the season ends, not after the results are known.
• Prize: a set of 4 bottles, the composition of which is determined by the Organiser.

6.5. How layer 2 and layer 3 prizes are handed over

Layer 2 and layer 3 prizes are physical bottles handed over by the Organiser in person. The winner is sent a message to the address given at registration; the prize is then agreed and handed over through that correspondence. No voucher is issued, no code is given, and partner shops take no part in the handover.

Winners are confirmed before they are announced. The Organiser reviews the rating history of the winning account before the result is published. This is a routine procedure and does not constitute an accusation.

The period for claiming a layer 2 or layer 3 prize is 30 days from the date the message was sent to the winner. After that period the prize may not be handed over.

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7. Bad-faith participation and disqualification

The following are grounds for disqualification:

• creating several accounts by one person — in particular, to rate the same wine again or to pool results;
• passing benchmark values to other persons, obtained when the result was shown, in any form;
• entering a rating without actually tasting the wine;
• using automated means to submit ratings;
• any other acts aimed at producing a result that does not reflect the participant's own tasting assessment.

Consequences: cancellation of the affected results, cancellation of prizes not yet handed over and of vouchers not yet issued, refusal to hand over a layer 2 or layer 3 prize that has been announced but not yet delivered, and blocking of the account. A voucher already redeemed has no retroactive consequences — the Organiser does not demand the return of goods, but may refuse further participation.

The Organiser does not disclose the specific methods used to detect breaches: publishing them would be an instruction on how to evade them.

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8. Disputes and complaints

Complaints about a result, a voucher or a prize are sent to info@vinum.md and are considered within 3 working days. A complaint should preferably state the date and time of the tasting and the voucher code.

The governing law is the law of the Republic of Moldova. Disputes not settled by negotiation are resolved in the manner established by the legislation of the Republic of Moldova.

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9. Changes to the rules

The Organiser may amend these rules by publishing a new edition on the site with its date. Amendments have no retroactive effect and do not cancel prizes already awarded or vouchers already issued.

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10. The Organiser