My night with the "Black Tongues".

Muscat Mike · Post by **Muscat Mike** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:57 pm

I was most priviliged to get an invite by Steve (aka 707) to a Black Tongues tasting when I was in Adelaide. The subject of this night's tasting was Super Cabernets.
There were ten bottles numbered, strangely, 1- 10 all currently available Cabernets.
I have lost my sheet so do not have details but hopefully Steve or one of the others will fill in the gaps.
Each person has a sheet and judges the wine on colour, nose and taste. You are given a 40ml. serving of each wine. This is done very simply by having XL5 tasting glasses with a mark at the 40ml. level. This is necessary because there were about 18 tasters present so everybody gets the same amount to taste.
We had about an hour to taste these wines and judge them. When this time is up there is a tally made. From 1 to 10 you are asked to vote for your favourite wine of the night, then the next two. Finally the least favourite is voted on.

The votes are tallied and then the names of the wines behind the numbers are announced. There were some big surprises when these were given out.
The top 3 from memory were Moss Wood, Yalumba The Menzies and Reynella Basket Press.
Not sure if it came dead last, it did in my vote, the John Riddoch.
Some of the others from memory were -
Te Mata
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale
Balnaves The Tally

The grey cells are diminishing at an ever increasing rate so I forget the others. It was a very interesting excercise and I thank Steve and the other Black Tongues for allowing me to participate.
Mike.

griff · Post by **griff** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:52 pm

Oh what a tease!

Which vintage of the John Riddoch. The 2006? Was the Moss Wood also 2006 for that matter? That would be surprising but if it was the 2005 then the result is easily understood.

cheers

Carl

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:49 am

This is all hazy writing Mr Muscat...
Facts would have been nicer.
Perhaps drained in enthusiasm?

Scanlon · Post by **Scanlon** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:47 am

I hope it wasn't current release Riddoch! What a waste!

Do you judge on how you read the wines 'now' or potential for ageing & development? I think the latter would be interesting to determine with such a large group of experienced tasters - determine approximate drinking window and have an excuse to do a re-visit tasting

Muscat Mike · Post by **Muscat Mike** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:46 am

Carl:- The Riddoch was the '06, not sure on other wines. They were current release wines.

Attilla:- What you see is what you get. Just my simple view of the night's event. I did say it was all from memory as I had lost my scoring sheet with names and vintages.

Scanlon:- There was a bit of both done with much swirling and re-visiting and re-evaluating. Several wines were re-graded after time in the glass.

Mike.

griff · Post by **griff** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:11 am

Muscat Mike wrote:Carl:- The Riddoch was the '06, not sure on other wines. They were current release wines.

Thanks Mike!

cheers

Carl

Muscat Mike · Post by **Muscat Mike** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:41 am

Steve has emailed me the wine names and vintages:-

06 John Riddoch
06 Wynns Alex 88
06 Moss Wood
07 Moss Wood Ribbon Vale
07 Cullen Diana Madeleine
05 Punters Corner Sovereign
06 Reynella Basket Pressed
06 Yalumba Menzies
07 TeMata Coleraine
06 Balnaves Tally

Mike.

griff · Post by **griff** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:50 am

Was it the 06 Mosswood or 07 Mosswood Amy's that came out trumps?

cheers

Carl

707 · Post by **707** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:19 pm

griff wrote:Was it the 06 Mosswood or 07 Mosswood Amy's that came out trumps?

It was the 2006 Moss Wood not the Amy's.

The tasting was of a uniformly high standard and typically it is hard to find a "Least Preferred" when the standard is so high. The surprise packets for me were the Yalumba Menzies and the Reynella, both aound $40. I also think the Wynns Alex 88 is a steal at $33.

griff · Post by **griff** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:42 pm

707 wrote:
griff wrote:Was it the 06 Mosswood or 07 Mosswood Amy's that came out trumps?

It was the 2006 Moss Wood not the Amy's.

The tasting was of a uniformly high standard and typically it is hard to find a "Least Preferred" when the standard is so high. The surprise packets for me were the Yalumba Menzies and the Reynella, both aound $40. I also think the Wynns Alex 88 is a steal at $33.

Interesting! Thanks.

cheers

Carl

Gavin Trott · Post by **Gavin Trott** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:48 pm

Worth remembering that, at a Blacktongues event, you MUST choose a 'least preferred'.

As such, it may not be a bad wine, it may be a terrific wine, but if the company is really good, it can still come out as least preferred!

Muscat Mike · Post by **Muscat Mike** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:45 pm

Gavin Trott wrote:Worth remembering that, at a Blacktongues event, you MUST choose a 'least preferred'.

As such, it may not be a bad wine, it may be a terrific wine, but if the company is really good, it can still come out as least preferred!

Very good point Gavin and one I did not point out. It was not easy to do but as you say it must be done.
Mike.

The Auswine Forum

My night with the "Black Tongues".

My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".

Re: My night with the "Black Tongues".