Thinking caps on

FIENDISH WINE QUIZ 2012: It’s time to delve deep into the grey cells for a chance to win a trip to Mcguigan Wines in Australia.

HECK your passport is up to date before you settle down to work through this year’s Fiendish Wine Quiz which has been designed to blow away the cobwebs of Christmas and test your wine knowledge and research capabilities.

The top prize this year is a fabulous trip to the multi-award-winning McGuigan Wines in the Hunter Valley, Australia. Flights, accommodation and meals are included in this four-day stay in Australia, which starts with a night in Sydney to get you on Australia time, two nights as a guest of the McGuigan family in the Hunter Valley, with visits to vineyards and the winery, then another night back in Sydney. If you want to extend your trip that can be done by arrangement. I will accompany the winner and their companion and I am already looking forward to it. The dates will be by agreement between the winner, McGuigan and myself and naturally must avoid peak times, but to get the best of the Australian weather it would be good to take this trip quite soon in 2013.

McGuigan wines have swept the board at international wine competitions with awards for their Chardonnays and Rieslings but in particular for their Semillon which has set a new world-wide standard for innovation and style.

There will be two runners-up prizes – a copy of The Complete Bordeaux by Stephen Brook, published by Mitchell Beazley which ranks as one of the most authoritative books on this fantastic region.

As always, you may use any means to get to the right answers, including pestering your local wine merchant although it might be polite to buy a bottle from them while you are waiting for the answers. The winner will be asked to nominate their favourite independent wine shop which will receive a case of McGuigan wine.

This quiz is not open to anyone in the wine trade and that includes wine lecturers who should concentrate on helping their students to win.

Now that so many people read the Yorkshire Post online I have decided to allow entries on plain paper, however I shall need your name and address in your own handwriting on your entry sheet. If you have a copy of the newspaper then, as usual, please tick the right answers and send me the whole page. Emailed entries will be ignored. Only one entry per household is allowed and any multiple entries will be discarded.

All correct entries will go into Grapevine’s giant ice-bucket and the winner will be chosen at random. There is no cash alternative to any of the prizes.

I will mark all the entries and no arguing will be allowed, although the customary nit-picking from regular readers relieves the tedium of marking the entries.

Send to: Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Post Magazine, No1 Leeds, 26 Whitehall Road, Leeds LS12 1BE to arrive no later than January 9, 2013.

CHRISTINE AUSTIN