For the first time in the World Blind Wine Tasting Championship’s 10-year history, an all-female team from Africa is taking part.  

The World Blind Wine Tasting Championships are due to take place at Champagne Ayala in France later this week. The championships are touted as the “Wine-tasting Olympics”. Blind tasting is when the contestants are not told which wines they are sampling.

Thirty-three countries are expected to be represented. And for the first time in the championship’s 10-year history, an all-female team from Africa is taking part. The five-person team of sommeliers is from Kenya.

They are Joy Adero Ochola, Soraiya Ladak, Melissa Mwende, Beverly Mbaika, and Coach Victoria Mulu-Munywoki. During the competition, only four members can taste – the coach can guide the team but cannot taste the wines.

Team member Melissa Mwende spoke to BBC Focus on Africa about how they have been practicing for the championships. She said they had been meeting at least four days a week for three-hour long sessions sampling at least 12 wines every day.

She said the all-women team came together by chance in between lots of wine.

Ms. Mwende said they were confident in their preparations for the championships, which she rated at 80%, having tasted at least 250 bottles of wine.

The team hopes to spend a week in France before the championships to prepare for the remaining 20% to “taste wines we don’t have access to here”.