It’s Time For A Zoom Tasting Night

[Wines101]

I hope everyone is well, safe and healthy!!!

What do you think of a virtual tasting?

I would love to hear some feedback

[Croquet King]

excellent idea - a theme with different bottles.
Either we have 3 bottles and people go and source them or just supply whatever you can and we discuss.

[Wines101]

CK...

If we get a few more people participating, we could build a theme around a particular kind of wine, region and make this happen in the next few weeks.

I hope a few more people post their ideas

[Alex F]

I am keen!

[JamieBahrain]

Once you get into the spirit zoom tastings are neat.

Must be a few winemakers interested?

Last week my group did a Virtual Tasting and tour with Gladstone vineyards and Eddie McDougall and this week Ted Lamon of Littorai in California.

[Wines101]

Hello Everyone...


Is there a forum leader in this group?
I am so very new to the forum but if someone can point to the right person to have a chat with about moving forward that would be great.

Thanks everyone ..

[n4sir]

Hello Everyone...


Is there a forum leader in this group?
I am so very new to the forum but if someone can point to the right person to have a chat with about moving forward that would be great.

Thanks everyone ..

It's worth asking (via PM or email) the Auswine forum owner Gavin Trott (that's his username here too).

He is also a wine merchant (click on the white 'Australian Wine Centre' square with the purple glass at the top left of these pages to go to his website - auswine.com.au), so it could work doubly well if he provides the wines. Good luck!

Cheers,
Ian

[I Love Shiraz]

I would love to participate.

[Polymer]

Hello Everyone...


Is there a forum leader in this group?
I am so very new to the forum but if someone can point to the right person to have a chat with about moving forward that would be great.

Thanks everyone ..

Treat it like an offline. The person that organizes it sets the rules because they've done all the work to make it happen.

I've seen two common online offlines (LOL).

Organized with a winery...it doesn't matter who joins because the main speakers will be the winery folks...they'll usually say a few things and also they take questions from people..it is like everyone meeting at their cellar door and getting a chance to chat w/ the winery owners or winemakers...people drink whatever and don't really talk about what they're drinking...most people are drinking something from the winery though.

Organized with just other wine geeks...People have been figuring out how to split out wines to each other via smaller vessels and working out how to distribute them...This is probably realistic only for groups that normally meet anyways as they're at least relatively close in proximity to each other.

I haven't seen this but sure it must happen:
Organized with other wine geeks but everyone buys the same wine. This is a bit more limiting because you basically have to rely on everyone being able to get the same wine/wines and that isn't that easy. You also can't really go through too many wines either. Advantage is anyone can really join...but I think it would be difficult to do. You can also have a theme or have people bring whatever...but then this is more like a Zoom Forum meet than a wine meet and while you can talk about wine, the common focus is not on the same wine so it is just not the same.'

But really you can just do whatever you want. If you're organizing it, it is your effort, your rules, you can put it together however you want.

[Mahmoud Ali]

The really impressive way to do it is to have someone buy the wines, put them in sample size bottles with labels, and ship them off to the participants. In that way everyone is drinking the same wine and more of them.

[Alex F]

I am keen to do fortifieds, champagne/sparkling, cabernet franc, or nebbiolo. Or new release 'cult' wine like Wendouree/Sami Odi/Standish etc.

[daver6]

My wine group held a few Zoom virtual tastings during the initial lock phase. It was really more a way for us to catch up and be social. Each person just had their own wine. We have no theme. Each person would take a turn to describe their wine while the rest of us tried to guess what it might be based on the descriptors (and playing the man).

Much less of a serious tasting, but a good opportunity to catch up with the wine nerds when we couldn't in person.

[mjs]

The really impressive way to do it is to have someone buy the wines, put them in sample size bottles with labels, and ship them off to the participants. In that way everyone is drinking the same wine and more of them.

That's sort of how we have done our recent Zoom tastings with several wineries/winemakers. There's about ten of us in my group of wine mates, spread between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The cellar door ships a six pack of wines for tasting to each city. On the day, one of us in each city decants the wines into three or four sample bottles (depends on how many participating in that city), then distributes the sample bottles to others in that city, socially distancing, just before the tasting time. Everyone gets at least 150ml of each wine. That way, the wine maker and everyone else has exactly the same wines. That has led to several very enjoyable sessions in excess of two hours of crapping on about wines as well as other sh!t. It's a bit of organising, but it has worked very well. Covid rules in Melbourne atm might prove challenging, with reasons for travel and not allowed to travel more than 5kms.

Slightly simpler would be to nominate some particular wines to taste and leave up to people locally to procure and possibly share. Depends if you want a semi-serious tasting or perhaps just catch up and crap on about wine and the meaning of life!

Either way, I am in!

[Duncan Disorderly]

Slightly simpler would be to nominate some particular wines to taste and leave up to people locally to procure and possibly share. Depends if you want a semi-serious tasting or perhaps just catch up and crap on about wine and the meaning of life!

I recently signed up to a mates Online beer club. There is a different beer each week, a ‘wheel’ is spun each week to choose who nominates with said nominee then removed until everyone has had a chance to nominate. The beer must be available at Dan Murphy’s - although I have found all the beers nominated so far at my local beer specialist.

As mjs notes a similar approach could be used for your Zoom tasting. I recognise it’s not a flight of wines as is typical, but you could do say two bottles and do it more regularly - which fulfils the desire to catch up with friends and those with common interests.

[JamieBahrain]

This is our next zoom tasting. 12 wines in 65ml viles. Took me awhile to get truly interested, but after a few, they are a lot of fun and the social interaction with friends up lifting.

Last week our Californian event cancelled due the wild fires.

Dear Jamie,

For our virtual tasting on Wednesday, September 2nd, we will discover Domaine Guiberteau from the Loire Valley, in our usual format: blind-tasting and scoring of 12 wines.

Introduction
Founded at the beginning of the XXth century by Clément Manguin, Romain’s great grandfather, the domaine was then passed on to Clément’s son in law, Robert Guiberteau, a talented winemaker and one of the founding members of the cave cooperative of Saumur. In 1954, recognizing the great potential of this terroir, Robert purchased several hectares on the hill of Brézé, in particular the Clos des Carmes, considered by legendary gourmet Curnonsky as one of the grand crus of the Loire Valley. When Robert retired in 1976 none of his children wanted to take over and the domaine was farmed out.

In 1996, at the end of a lease cycle, Romain Guiberteau, who was flailing as a law student, decided to take over the management of his family’s vineyards rather than see the leases renewed. The following year, under the mentoring of Clos Rougeard’s Nady Foucault, Romain made 5000 bottles of red wine that he managed to sell easily. The success convinced him to pursue a qualitative approach to winemaking and to gradually take back his grapes from the cooperative.

The domaine is 9.4 hectares (under plantation, there is 12 hectares total), 7 of which are located in the great terroir of Brézé. A little more than half of the surface is planted to Chenin with the remainder planted to Cabernet Franc. Age of vines varies between 4 and 80 years old, with a hefty proportion of old vines. In 2000, Romain converted the vineyards to organic management and in 2003 he began the process towards the AB organic certification, obtaining it in 2007.

The fermentation is natural with indigenous yeasts. The reds are 100% destemmed and the wines are aged in either concrete tanks or oak barrel although new oak is banned except for 2 cuvées. The wines are not fined and filtered only when necessary.
4 Red Cuvées: Les Moulins, Domaine, Les Chapaudaises, Les Arboises
5 Red Cuve: Domaine, Les Moulins, Le Clos de Guichaux, Brézé, Le Clos des Carmes

Tasting Wines
Saumur blanc 2014
Saumur blanc Les Moulins 2014
Saumur blanc Les Guichaux 2014
Saumur blanc Brézé 2014
Saumur blanc Clos des Carmes 2014
Saumur blanc 2015
Saumur blanc Brézé 2015
Saumur rouge 2014
Saumur rouge Les Motelles 2014
Saumur rouge Les Chapaudaises 2017
Saumur rouge Les Arboises 2014
Saumur rouge Les Arboises 2015

2014 is a very good to outstanding vintage in the Loire Valley which relatively performed better this year compared to the rest of France. This is a cool and classic vintage. We will have a 2014 horizontal of all their cuvées. Only exception is the Red Chapaudaises that they only started to produce in 2017 (we have their first vintage). 2015 is also a good vintage in Loire but (as elsewhere in France) much warmer. We will taste 3 wines among their cuvees to compare the style versus 2014 (2 whites and 1 red).

We will taste 7 white wines and 5 red wines. Tasting will be blind with usual scoring system. We will send you an electronic version of the usual scoring sheet before the event. Scoring will be independent between whites (to be scored from 1 to 7) and reds (to be scored from 1 to 5).

[Rory]

Did a great Zoom tasting with a bunch of locals Friday night.
we each chose a wine within the Moderators guidance. Took the wine to a local restaurateur (part of the group), with 8 jars/lids by Thursday evening.
Friday afternoon he poured a sample of each wine into each jar, marked 1-8.
We picked the jars up (plus a hamper of his food) by 6pm.
Started the Zoom at 7:30, with the 8 jars each in front of us.

Went really well. Keen to do another soon.