Background
Through weekly term-time tastings OUWS offers members the opportunity to learn from world famous wine makers and visiting experts. The Society has been established many years, and regularly hosts some of the world's foremost wineries. Oxford University is also notable for having many of the world's leading wine writers amongst its alumni. Many of the Colleges of the University of Oxford still manage sizeable fine wine cellars below their old buildings, maintained by Fellows and University dons with the honorific title of "Keeper of the Wine" or "Wine Steward". These great wines are frequently available to students and as such the wine tasting culture of Oxford has been described as a phenomenon in itself. Members are mainly students, graduates and University faculty, although non-University members may also be granted membership in line with University rules. The Society is particularly noted within the University for its Beginners' Classes, which aim to teach new students all they need to know about wine.
OUWS won the University Wine Challenge tasting competition in 2002 and 2004 run by the Australian Wine Bureau. Members have taken part in the famous Varsity blind wine tasting match against fellow wine tasters at Cambridge University. Several members of the Society have gone on to act as judges at the International Wine Challenge, which claims to be the world's largest annual wine tasting competition.
The Society was recently in the media spotlight when the former President Christopher Dix, in his capacity as Co-Chair of the Blues Committee, was involved in the failed attempt to recognise competitive wine tasting as a Blue (university sport). "It so beautifully fulfils five of six requirements to become a Blues sport but failed somewhat on the athletic prowess front", as Christopher lightheartedly put it. Other media interest has focused on some of the unique wine tastings hosted by the Society, such as Domaine Faiveley, the famous Burgundian producer, which was covered in depth by the Shuhan News, the largest circulation drinks journal in Japan.
The current Senior Member of the Society is Professor Raphaël Rouquier, Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics.
Read more about this topic: Oxford University Wine Society
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