The Big Blind League is competitive blind wine tasting, run as a real sport. Open to South Australian residents, 18+ — and anyone can play. Score points year-round for tasting blind — at the Bottle Shock bar and at five themed Regional Cups across the state — then climb the live ladder. The top 24 taste it out at a $5,000 Grand Final. Wines in black glasses. No labels. No peeking. Just palates.
The points reward a sharp palate, not a big bar tab. Real blind tasting is taste-and-spit — what climbs the ladder is getting the wine right, not how much you get through.
Buy any blind flight — $25, a menu of themed flights, new wines every quarter. Five wines blind: lay your cards and pick a favourite. Every flight scores, and nailing it perfectly scores more. Flights at the bar and CBD pop-ups count the same.
Five Regional Cups, July to November. $25 to enter. Turn up, taste blind, and place to climb — full points in the breakdown below. Win the cup and you take the Free Run: an automatic seat at the Grand Final.
Three ways to stack points, all season long. No catch, no fine print — here's the lot.
It stacks fast: turn up (+15), ace the Options round (+25) and win your cup (+100) = 140 points banked in a single afternoon.
Every Free Run holder plus the best of the rest by season points. Wines from anywhere on the planet. Winner takes all.
Five wines, multiple choice — Europe or New World, country, region, variety, vintage. 25 points on the table — and every one banks to your season ladder. Top four go straight through.
Deduce the variety and region through yes/no questioning. First to crack it advances. Equal parts palate and detective work.
Black glasses. Head-to-head, bracketed knockout tastings. No colour, no labels, no hiding. Last palate standing wins.
In 2025 we ran the $5k Big Blind — a mission to find South Australia's best palate. Over 160 entrants across four months, whittled to a final 24, before crowning a champion after a full-day tasting and sending them home with $5,000 cash. A bacteriologist with no wine-industry background won the lot.
In 2026 we're taking it on the road — more people, more chances to reach the Final, the same winner-takes-all $5,000 on the line.
Are you old enough to pop a cork and swirl a decanter? You'll need to be 18 or over to come in.
18+ · SA · Please drink responsibly
