Events

The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

International

The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup (or Vin sur 20 competition until 2012), is an international student competition for oenological tasting clubs for international Universities and Schools. It takes place in the form of the famous America’s Cup: Challengers in North America, Asia and Europe come to challenge the best French universities and schools wine-club in the finals held each year at Lafite-Rothschild castle in June. An event that contributes undoubtedly for the radiation of great wines from the left bank of Bordeaux. It is an opportunity to bring students from diverse cultures gathered around a common passion: wine.

In 2015, these are entries from 16 French schools and universities, 13 US teams, 18 Asian teams, 7 European teams. Competition based on excellence research both in the quality of the participating schools than the level of wines’ quality on the contest.

Organized around the Bordeaux skills (Medoc, Graves Sauternes-Barsac), the competition is based on sharing knowledge from wise experts to enthusiasts and interested students. The Commanderie du Bontemps also places great emphasis on accountability in the use of alcohol and “savoir-déguster”.

Presets are carried out from January to April in different international cities, where 2 teams from each continent are invited to participate in the great final. Multiple choice quizzes and tasting blindly events decide between the competitors for a final taking place at Château Lafite-Rothschild.

Apply for the international LBBC competition

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The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup diary

2025 2024 2023

Monday 20 January 2025

North-America Qualification

French consulate in NYC
Monday 17 March 2025

China Qualification

Embassy of France in China
Wednesday 19 March 2025

Asia Qualification

Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong
Friday 28 March 2025

France Qualification

Paris - Dauphine University
Saturday 10 May 2025

Europe Qualification

London
Friday 13 June 2025

LBBC Finale

Château Duhart-Milon

Monday 22 January 2024

North-America Qualification

French consulate in NYC
Saturday 9 March 2024

Pacific Asia Qualification

Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hong-Kong
Monday 11 March 2024

China Qualification

French Embassy in Beijing
Saturday 23 March 2024

Europe Qualification

Hyatt Regency Hotel, London
Friday 5 April 2024

France Qualification

Paris - Dauphine University
Saturday 25 May 2024

Alumni dinner

Grissini restaurant, Hong-Kong
Friday 28 June 2024

LBBC Finale

Château Duhart-Milon

Monday 23 January 2023

USA

French Consulate at NYC
Monday 20 March 2023

HONG KONG

LBBC 2023 Qualifications - remotly
Tuesday 21 March 2023

CHINE

LBBC 2023 Qualifications - remotly
Saturday 25 March 2023

EUROPE

The Connaught Hotel
Friday 31 March 2023

FRANCE

Dauphine University
Friday 16 June 2023

FINALE LBBC 2022

Château Lafite Rothschild

Retrospective

2024 2023 2022 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012

Friday 28 June 2024

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Finale

The qualifying rounds for this year’s competition took place in a number of iconic cities, including New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, London and Paris. The 8 finalist teams were selected from some of the world’s leading academic institutions: Wharton School, Yale Law University, University of Cambridge, Saint Gallen University, University of Tsinghua, Hong Kong University Space, Skema Business School and ESSEC Business School.
The competition culminated on 28 June at the prestigious Château Duhart-Milon, where the finalists battled it out to win the cup. The final was preceded by an exclusive wine tour of the vineyards, offering participants an immersive and unforgettable experience in the world of Bordeaux’s Left Bank grands crus.

On Friday 28 June, Château Duhart Milon played host to the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup final. As soon as they arrived, the students immersed themselves in the competition. They began with a series of 10 theory questions, followed by 9 tasting questions.

The Cambridge team particularly distinguished itself by carrying out two series of flawless tastings, demonstrating an impressive mastery of this exercise.
After the competition, all the finalists were inducted, marking their official entry into the Commanderie du Bontemps.
The dinner that followed, presided over as usual by Baron Eric de Rothschild, was extremely convivial, sealing their experience with an unforgettable memory.

Results of the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup 2024 :
– 1st place: University of Cambridge
– 2nd place: ESSEC Business School
– 3rd place: Wharton School

Biodynamic demonstration at Château Climens
Barrel tasting at Château de Rayne Vigneau
Discovery of Château La Louvière
Dinner at Château de Fieuzal
Tour of the new facilities at Château Cantenac Brown
Lunch at Château Chasse-Spleen
Crus Bourgeois tasting at Château d'Arsac
Dinner at Château Le Crock
The vat room at Château Duhart-Milon, stage for the final
Cambridge winner LBBC 2024
Induction of all the finalists
Dinner of the Final at Château Duhart-Milon

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Friday 16 June 2023

Finale

Château Lafite Rothschild

On Friday 16 June in the cellars of Château Lafite Rothschild in Pauillac, the ENSTA Paris tasting team beat its six rivals in the final of the famous Left Bank Bordeaux Cup, an international competition run by wine clubs from universities and Grandes Ecoles. The other French team, SKEMA Business School, came second, just ahead of UCLA.

The finalists in the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup 2023 (McGill University – USA, UCLA – USA, Hong-Kong Baptist University – Hong-Kong, Technical University of Munich – Germany, University of Copenhagen – Denmark, ENSTA Paris – France, SKEMA Business School – France) met up on Tuesday 13 June for the traditional pétanque tournament to get to know each other. For two days, they immersed themselves in the vineyards of Bordeaux’s Left Bank.

On the day of the final, the tests begin with theoretical questions on geography, general knowledge and the history of the Commanderie, with or without a link to the châteaux visited earlier in the week.
The final continues with the most dreaded tasting questions, which may or may not be related to the wine tour.

Once the podium had been announced, and for the first time since the competition began in 2002, the students who had taken part in the final were inducted. They joined the Commanderie as Commandeur d’honneur, swearing allegiance to the wines of the Left Bank.

Finally, freed from the weight of the competition, the students and Commandeurs sit down to dinner and share an evening of exchanges, songs and conviviality.

Dinner at Château Grand Puy Lacoste
Dinner and party at Château Lafite Rothschild
Induction of all the finalists
Riedel masterclass and Crus Bourgeois Tasting at Château Paveil de Luze
Lunch on the lawn of Château d'Issan
Visit of Château de Fargues
Dinner at Château Grand Puy Lacoste
Lunch under the trees at Château Doisy-Védrines
Visit of the mineral forest of Château Talbot
Dinner and transmission at Domaine de Chevalier
Visit at Château Latour Martillac
Competition on the cellars of Château Lafite Rothschild

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Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Final at Château Lafite Rothschild

The American team from Cornell University won the final of the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup 2022, which was held on Friday 10 June at the Château Lafite Rothschild cellars in Pauillac.
SKEMA Lille and the University of St Gallen completed the podium by taking second and third place respectively.

The winners of this edition, Cornell University, were presented with a Double Magnum of Château Lafite Rothschild 2004 by Baron Eric de Rothschild. The team from SKEMA Lille, which came second, received a Magnum of Château Lafite Rothschild 2004 and a Magnum of Château Rieussec 2006. As for the students from the University of St Gallen, who won the bronze medal, they received a Magnum of Château Lafite Rothschild 2004 and a Magnum of Château Duhart-Milon 2006.

All other qualified participants (Agro Paris Tech, Hong-Kong University of Science and Technology, UCLA and UNIL) won a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild 2004, a bottle of Château Rieussec 2006 and a bottle of Château Duhart-Milon 2006.

After the competition, the lucky finalists were able to celebrate their participation during the dinner that followed at Château Lafite Rothschild. They were able to talk to all the members of the Commanderie who were there and, of course, to Baron Eric de Rothschild and his daughter Saskia, the hosts of this extraordinary place.
The key word of this meeting was intergenerational transmission.

Cornell University and Saskia de Rothschild
First place : Cornell University
Second place : Skema Lille
Third place : University of Saint Gallen
Cup of the LBBC
Cellars of Lafite Rothschild
Baron Eric de Rothschild

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Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

From sixty teams who started, only eight made it through to the final, arriving in Bordeaux on 11th June for an enjoyable week touring, tasting and attending receptions at several Commanderie properties.

The Final of the LBBC contest was held faithful to the tradition at Château Lafite Rothschild on Friday 14th June and was presided over by Baron Eric de Rothschild.
24 students from France, Europe, USA, Hong Kong and China gathered before the jury in the Chateau cellars to compete for the Left-Bank Bordeaux Cup.

The winners were:
1 – Hong Kong University Space (Hong Kong)
2 – Sichuan I.S.U. (China)
3 – University of Paris Dauphine (France)

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

In the circular cellar of Château Lafite Rothschild, under the chairmanship of Emmanuel Cruse, grandmaster of the Commandery, and Baron Eric de Rothschild, the eight finalists competed for victory. It is the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) which wins the competition and the cup.

THE WINNERS IN 2018
1st : University of Edinburgh UK
2nd : Yale Law School USA
3rd : CentraleSupelec France
4th : Harvard Business School USA
5th EX : Hong Kong Science & Technology University ? Hong Kong
5th EX : Zhejiang Gongshang University – China
7th : Université Paris Dauphine France
8th : Oxford University UK

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Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

In the circular cellar of Château Lafite Rothschild, under the chairmanship of Emmanuel Cruse, grandmaster of the Commandery, and Baron Eric de Rothschild, the eight finalists competed for victory. It is again the EM Lyon (France) which wins the competition and the cup.

THE WINNERS IN 2017
1st : EM Lyon – France
2nd : HEC Lausanne – Switzerland
3rd: Sciences Po Bordeaux – France
4th : Hong Kong Science & Technology University – Hong Kong
5th : Zhejiang Gongshang University – China
6th : Columbia Business School – USA
7th : Bocconi University – Italy
8th : Tuck School of Business – USA

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

On Friday, June 17, in the circular cellar of Château Lafite Rothschild, the eight competing teams disputed the title of this contest, which were chaired by Emmanuel Cruse, Grand-Maître of the Commanderie and Baron Eric de Rothschild.
For the first time EM Lyon (France) came out victorious.

The remaining teams were :
2e : Oxford
3e ex-aequo : Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne et Hong Kong Baptist University
5e : Huaiyin Normal University
6e : Sciences Po Paris
7e : Wharton School
8e : Yale Law School

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

After a 3-day winetour of private visits and tastings, the final took place at Château Lafite Rothschild.

Here are the rankings:

1er : Imperial College London Business School

2e : Cambridge University

3e : Université Paris Dauphine

4e : EM Lyon

5e : Hong Kong Baptist University

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

After a 3-day winetour of private visits and tastings, the final took place at Château Lafite Rothschild.

Here are the rankings:

1er : EDHEC Lille Business School

2e : Oxford University

3e : Skema Lille Business School

4e ex-aequo : New York Stern University, Nanyang Technological University & Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Château Lafite Rothschild

In the run-up to the Final, the participants spent three days driving round great left-bank estates enjoying exclusive visits and premium tastings. After a welcome dinner at négociants HMS, their itinerary included Chateaux Latour, Rouillac, Olivier, Yquem, Tronquoy Lalande, Smith Haut Lafitte, Guiraud and Phélan Ségur. A dream of a lifetime!
On Friday 14 June in the circular cellars of Château Lafite-Rothschild, the eight competing teams from Asia, North America, Europe and France disputed the title of this contest, which was chaired by Emmanuel Cruse, Grand Master of the Commanderie and Baron Eric de Rothschild. The Cambridge University team made up of Ellie JY Kim, David Beall and Vaiva Imbrasaite finally came out victorious!

The remaining teams were positioned as follows:

2nd: Wharton
3rd: Copenhagen Business School
4th: EDHEC Business School, Lille
5th: Yale Law School
6th: ESSEC Business School, Paris
7th: HKU Space
8th: Chongqing University

Left Bank Bordeaux Cup

Bordeaux

– Oxford and Copenhagen win the London selections of The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup!
– City U wins the China Hong Kong selections of The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup!
– JIAO TONG University MBA of Shanghai, winner of the China Mainland selections of The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup !
– Centrale Lille and EDHEC Lille, winners of the FRANCE pre-selections of The Left Bank Bordeaux Cup!