Season: September 1 — November 30, 2026.
Picture this: a calm setting, wine turning slowly in the glass, and the rare luxury of being in no hurry at all. You take the first sip and listen for the finer shades of aroma... Will you hear in that glass what an experienced sommelier picks up? Test the precision of your own palate, guess the wine's parameters, and win a prize for your sensitivity.
How the reference was born
We gathered 12 wines for the season — see the catalogue — and invited a panel of professional sommeliers to a blind tasting: a glass, a color, and no other clues. Each wine, the panel scored on fifteen aroma and taste parameters, from fruit intensity to tannin, on a 0–10 scale, where 0 means the trait is absent and 10 means it's at full volume. The panel's seven averaged scores became the reference aromatic profile — a portrait of the wine as an expert palate hears it.
Now that reference is waiting for you.
How it works
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Buy a season bottle with the competition sticker — the QR code is unique to that bottle |
| 2 | Scan the code, register, and confirm your age |
| 3 | Taste the wine and rate the same 15 parameters on a 0–10 scale |
| 4 | Submit your rating — accuracy, tier, and voucher arrive right away |
About the QR code: scan it as many times as you like — it reopens every time. But once you submit a rating, it's cancelled for good: one bottle, one result.
Before tasting:
- use a glass with a wide bowl — that's what lets the aroma open up fully;
- serve at the right temperature for that wine — otherwise part of the profile simply won't come through.
What you get
Every participant gets a voucher — regardless of the result. The closer your rating matches the reference, the bigger the discount:
| Tier | Accuracy | Voucher |
|---|---|---|
| Master Sommelier | 88%+ | 320 MDL |
| Sommelier | 65%+ | 100 MDL |
| Enthusiast | 48%+ | 70 MDL |
| Participant | any | 50 MDL |
The voucher is redeemed on vinum.md — enter the code in your cart at checkout. Valid for 60 days.
For those who want more
| Level | Condition | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly (Sep/Oct/Nov) | 2+ wines in the "red" or "white and sparkling" category | A bottle of your choice from the VINUM estate catalogue |
| Season (Sep 1 — Nov 30, 2026) | 4+ wines, highest average accuracy | A set of 4 bottles |
The rules, briefly: open to adults (18+); one account can rate each wine only once — but there are twelve wines in the season, so there's plenty to try. This is a contest of skill: only the accuracy of your rating affects the result, no drawings involved.
You've got this. The full official rules are here.