1 · Taste a flight
Buy any Blind Tasting Flight at our home in Gumeracha or at an event on tour. Taste through five wines blind, lay your cards, and pick a favourite. Every attempt scores 5 points, and nailing the challenge scores more!
BIG BLINDLEAGUEBlind tasting · SA
Season One · 2026
Wine, but make it sport.
The Bottle Shock Big Blind League is South Australia's boldest new wine event, where competitive blind tasting is run as a sport. Every wine is poured blind, so the palate is the only thing in play. Whether you taste for a living or have never swirled a glass, there is a seat at the table and a chance to win: anyone aged 18 and over can enter.
Earn points two ways
Taste, Score, Climb.
Every sip is an opportunity to learn and earn points, but we reward accuracy over volume.
2 · Enter a cup
Five Regional Cups July to November, $25 to enter. Turn up, taste blind, and climb the ladder. Win the cup and you take the Free Run: an automatic seat at the Grand Final and a shot at $5000!
The scoring
Every point, and where it comes from.
Transparency is key, so here's how you can maximise your chances to win $5000:
1Set up — onceThe easiest points going
Fill in your player profile+1 for each detail you add — town, job and the rest+5
2At the bar — all year$25 blind flights · bar + CBD pop-ups
Play any blind flightjust for having a crack+5
Ace it — a perfect scorebonus, once per theme each month+10
⚡ Super Points Events
3At the Regional Cups$25 to enter · five cups, Jul–Nov
The big stage. Five cups, the season's richest points — and the only way to bank a Grand Final seat.
Turn up & compete+15
Round 1 — the Options game+1 for every correct call across the five wines — up to 25 on the table, every cup+1→25
Finish in the top 4+40 / +60 / +80 / +100 from 4th up to the Champion+40→100
Win your cupand bank a Free Run — an automatic Grand Final seatFree Run
It stacks fast: turn up (+15), ace the Options round (+25) and win your cup (+100) = 140 points banked in a single afternoon.
ClimbEvery point banks toward your season tally — the top 24 take a seat at the $5,000 Grand Final on December 5.
The season · July – November
Five cups. Five regions. One Final.
11 JulClare CupRiesling
🏆 Won by Roberta Ruotolo · Free Run
The Grand Final · Saturday December 5 · Gumeracha
$5,000. 24 seats.
Every Free Run holder plus the best of the rest by season points. Wines from anywhere on the planet. Winner takes all.
The format · every event
Three rounds, three unique challenges.
01
Options
Five wines, five questions — Europe or New World, country, region, variety, vintage. 25 points on the table, every one adds to your ladder ranking. Top four tasters go straight through to Round 3.
02
Blind Leading the Blind
20-Questions-style trivia: deduce the variety and region through yes/no questioning. The first four to crack it advance, the rest join the audience. Equal parts palate and detective work.
03
The Blackout
Black glasses, head-to-head, bracketed knockout tastings. No colour, no labels, no hiding. From 8 down to 1, the last palate standing wins!
How it came to be
It started with one crazy idea…
In 2025 we ran the $5k Big Blind: our mission to find South Australia's best palate. From over 160 entrants across four months, we whittled to a final 24, before crowning a champion after a full-day tasting. A bacteriologist with no wine-industry background took the crown, and $5000 cash!
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.
Already on board
The Brands Backing the League.
Our Industry Partners have made Season One possible. From glassware, to wine, to beer, to venues, every one put something real in, turning our dream into a tangible reality for our wine community.
Major Sponsors
Riedel · Glassware
Unico Zelo
Venue Sponsors
Knappstein
Simon Tolley
The Barossa Cellar
Bellwether
Angove
Wine Sponsors
Pikes
Jim Barry
Whistler
Langmeil
Penfolds
David Ridge Wines
Beer Sponsors
Pikes Beer Co.
Lobethal Bierhaus
Marketing Sponsors
Clare Valley Wine, Food & Tourism Centre
Adelaide Hills Tourism
Adelaide Hills Wine Region
The rules, quickly
No fine print worth hiding.
01Free to join, 18+, and a South Australian resident (for the 2026 season). Anyone can play — last year a complete punter beat one of SA's best trade tasters.
02Vintage guesses are multiple choice. We're testing palates, not party tricks.
03Ties are settled the only fair way: one wine, two black glasses, closest to the vineyard wins.
04Bottle Shock crew can play for fun, but can't qualify. The Final belongs to you.