2014 The Wine Blog Trophy: the popular vote + jury's decision

There are two prizes this year for the Wine Blog Trophy, linked to the annual Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers from Monday 3rd to Wednesday 5th February. The first prize – the post/blogger with the most internet votes – has already been decided: David Farge - Le blog d'Abistodenas  with 367 votes was the runaway victor gathering over 100 votes more than his closest rival.   

For the 8th edition of the Blog Trophy itself the jury has now picked the five finalists who will compete on the morning of Monday 3rd February at the Salon.

The five finalists:

-Marc Vanhellemont  (154 votes) – Les 5 du Vin
-Yann Dereu (119) – - ah-le-vin
-Catherine Arnaud (47) – ô coeur des vins   

-Nicolas Brouté  (78) – Melon de Bourgogne
-Benjamin Poussardin (169) – Les Aventures de Bimbin Foudevin

Interesting that the result of the 'popular' vote and the jury diverged considerably with the two most popular blog posts by David Farge and Antoon Laurent who between them gathered 621 votes – 44.5% of the total votes cast.

The Jury for 2014:

Pierrick Jégu, auteur du guide des cavistes 2014.

Camille Méric, Directrice Flagship pour les prestigieuses caves parisiennes Legrand Filles et Fils.

Mickaël Ravier, caviste incontournable sur Nantes, ayant fait la « une » du guide des Cavistes 2014.

Julie Truffert, Chargée de Communication numérique au sein d'InterLoire.

Rendez vous le 3 février, sur le Salon des Vins de Loire, pour connaître le vainqueur de cette 8ème édition.

The state of voting play as it ended:
David Farge - Le blog d'Abistodenas  367 votes 
Antoon Laurent – The Wine Patriot    254 votes
Benjamin Poussardin – Les Aventures de Bimbin Foudevin 169 votes
Marc Vanhellemont – Les 5 du Vin     154 votes
Yann Dereu - ah-le-vin                     119 votes
Médérick Tremaud – Vinobingo, Les Brèves de terroir de Med 112 
Nicolas Brouté – Melon de Bourgogne  78 votes
Nove-Josserand Robyn - Novevin         76 votes
Catherine Arnaud ô coeur des vins       47 votes 

Chantal Sarrazin - Mademoiselle Mistral 7 votes 
Antoine Mantzer – Le Blog d'Epicure      6 votes
Léon Mazzella – Kally Vasco                  6 votes

Marc Vanhellemont – one of the finalists 

and a member of Les 5 du Vin

Wine Blog Trophy – less than 3 days left to vote

There are less than three days left to vote in this year's Wine Blog Trophy, which is linked to the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers.

The state of play as it stands:

David Farge - Le blog d'Abistodenas  346 votes 
Antoon Laurent – The Wine Patriot    237 votes
Benjamin Poussardin – Les Aventures de Bimbin Foudevin 160 votes
Marc Vanhellemont – Les 5 du Vin     149 votes
Yann Dereu - ah-le-vin                     116 votes
Médérick Tremaud – Vinobingo, Les Brèves de terroir de Med 110 
Nicolas Broute – Melon de Bourgogne  72 votes
Nove-Josserand Robyn - Novevin         63 votes
Catherine Arnaud ô coeur des vins       46 votes 
Antoine Mantzer – Le Blog d'Epicure      6 votes
Chantal sarrazin - Mademoiselle Mistral 6 votes 
Léon Mazzella – Kally Vasco                  5 votes

Voting closes on Friday 17th January@14.00 hours (CET).
 
 

2013 – some predictions and an update on the Wine Blog Trophy

The dawning of 2013

My post this week on Les 5 du Vin looks at some of the possibilities of 2013:

'What will 2013 bring?  Here are a few things that I would like to see happen during this year along with the odd stab at trying to guess what will happen.

Firstly I hope that 2013 will be kinder to wine producers in the northern half of France. Generally vignerons in Burgundy, Champagne and the Loire had a very tough time in 2012, although quality in some places is good, volume is generally well down. It will be very interesting to be able to start tasting some of the 2012 Loires now that many of them will have finished their alcoholic fermentation.' 

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Wine Blog Trophy

Ever since the beginning of yesterday voting has been very brisk for this year's Wine Blog Trophy. Barcelona blogger Vincent Pousson, who was only signed up yesterday, has had huge success in garnering votes. Amazingly he now leads by over 300 votes with a total of 444 from his nearest rival Anne Graindorge on 133, then Nicolas Brouté (77), Alain Fourgeot (38), Michel Smith (24), Vincent Simon (15), Eric Lebanc (14), Benjamin Poussardin (13), Marc Vanhellemont (9), Natalie Merceron (7), Denis Hervier (6),  Bruno Bosselin (6), Jean Noël Gosselin (5), Marie-Christine and Didier Clement (2), Jean-Charles Botte (2), Richard James (1), Heikki Remes (1),