All wines were served double blind and mixed up within each flight. I went to great lengths to hide the identity of the wines, serving all in decanters and having my own workspace in the cool garage of his house. The idea was to cast all aspersions aside as to price and producer and solely judge the wines on perceived merit and then put them in dollar order.
From my perspective it was a very interesting exercise, listening to the debating, reasoning, self doubt. Some flights were described as too much tannin, not enough fruit to carry it, then too fruit forward, and this one is a good mix of both (I'm thinking and that's the more expensive one) and then they'd go with the tannic one as being more expensive. But it is true that if you know the order they should be in you can see the progression (although they'd strongly disagree with me
). All of the tasters were regulars so I'd like to think they know their way around a wine glass. Probably a tribute to the winemakers is that there were no easy flights that everyone went bang, bang, bang. And when you have a $8 bottle of red up against a $110 bottle it's a testament to their ability to craft decent wines at various price points with the difference being in a lot of cases the exclusiveness of the wine and/or grapes (single vineyard). I went with producers who I know produced well made consistent wines with a good track record. I also tried to source the more expensive ones with a bit of age to give them a half decent showing and decanted them for about 5 hours.
To make it interesting I had them scoring themselves with bonus points awarded for various things (picking the vineyard on the slide, picking the region it was from) with a 1990 Wynns Coonawarra up for grabs. I think Ben pipped Cam at the post winning by 1 point. Regretfully I didn’t collect the scoresheets at the end of it to do some analysis on it. (I might see if I can get a sample set from a few of them)
We struggled with numbers and were whittled down to 10 people so have upped the ante on the person/bottle ratio which some have mentioned had slipped somewhat so 29 bottles all up with a 1990 Roederer BdB Champers as a digestif next to a Seppelt Rare Tawny was interesting to say the least. By the end of the night they were struggling, Cam had his head buried on the table, saying "Oh God make it stop, all my senses have shut down" but he did perk up at the end being the trooper he is. So they did a sterling job getting through all of them. I managed to get a few of them home in one piece afterwards but I’m sure there will be some sore heads this morning.
The 2009 Mt Langi Cliff Edge is a fantastic wine, at $23 a bottle it punches well above its weight.
The Joseph Sparkling Shiraz reads like a Frankenstein Wine but is decadent and Moorish without being overly confected.
The 1998 Riddoch is all class and power, with great depth and quite approachable even now with a good decant.
2006 Wynns Coona is built for the long run, good to see.
Kooyong Estate PN is a really good compromise with nice dusty tannins and rich fruit to carry it.
The Seppelt Rare Tawny is almost Cognac in its nose and very ethereal. (undecided on this)
2010 Rockford BP has great fruit and length.
Flights and basic prices next to each wine.
Flight 1
Lanson Black Label NV ($39)
2002 Lanson Gold Label ($50)
1997 Lanson Noble Cuvee ($95)
Flight 2
2007 JJ Prum Kabinett ($50)
2007 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett ($70)
Flight 3
2011 10X by Tractor ($30)
2010 10X by Tractor Estate ($42)
2010 10X by Tractor Wallis Single Vineyard ($65)
Joseph Sparkling Shiraz
Flight 4
2011 Kooyong Massale ($25)
2010 Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir ($40)
2010 Kooyong Meres Pinot Noir($60)
Flight 5
2009 Mt Langi Billi Billi ($15)
2009 Mt Langi Cliff Edge ($23)
2005 Mt Langi Ghiran ($80)
1999 Mt Langi Ghiran ($80)
2010 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz
Flight 6
2008 Kays Basket Pressed Shiraz ($26)
2008 Kays Hillside Shiraz ($38)
2008 Kays Block 6 Shiraz ($60)
Flight 7
2012 Wolf Blass Red Label ($9)
2008 Wolf Blass Yellow Label ($12)
2009 Wolf Blass Grey Label ($34)
2006 Wolf Blass Black Label ($110)
Flight 8
2011 Wynns Siding ($15)
2006 Wynns Coonawarra ($32)
1998 Wynns John Riddoch ($100)
1990 Roederer BdB
Sepelt DP90 Rare Tawny
I'd have been terrified to take part, and being honest with myself I am absolutely certain I'd be second guessing myself, internally working through what I think a higher-priced wine "ought" to taste like relative to a cheapy. Nightmare!
