There is a very good chance you won't recognize your favorite during the blind tasting!
I was rather excited getting this e-mail:
Friday, September 30th – Brown Bag Tasting at Café Maxx 7pm
This event is for the “brown bag†contingency that invades the Wine Watch every
Saturday afternoon. One of our best friends/customers Dr. Richard Esack started
this madness at the store and now it has become a weekly ritual. Every Saturday
at approximately 4pm friends/customers of the store arrive with their wines
covered in brown bags eager to stump the wine guy (me). Well I think its time
to take this little game to the next level. This time we will taste through 12
wines in a sit down formal style in the back room at Café Maxx and these wines
will not only be blind to the tasters, but they will also be blind to the person
conducting the tasting (me). Although I donÂ’t know what the wines will be, my
right hand man Ward “The Hit Man†Holt will be making the selections and you can
be assured that there will be some top level wines represented as I am giving
him a healthy budget for this evening. The tasters (you) will be awarded one
point for guessing: varietal, vintage, region of origin and producer (a total of
four points for each wine). If you get all four questions correct you will
receive an additional point giving you a total of five points for your answer.
And here is the kicker- the person that gets the most points doesnÂ’t have to
pay. The fee for this tasting is $75 all-inclusive, for reservations call
954-523-9463.
One thing is what WE THINK of our abilities and the REALITY of the situation is quite another.
The reception wine was in brown bag, no points given. We are the "red bigots", the white wine in our house is only used for marinades, and nevertheless, we both guessed Riesling, 2002, Germany. I used to drink lots of Liebfraumilch back in a day, so this wine reminded me of it.
One taster guessed it right of the bat:
2002 Dr. Burkin Wolf Riesling Pfalz
The tasting itself was conducted in 3 flights,
4 whites,
and two 4 reds flights.
To make things worse, all wines were decanted for 4 hours,
making some nose disappear and oaky greenness set in.
Surprisingly to me, the biggest points I scored with WHITES I don't normally drink!
Flight #1 - Whites
Wine #1,
my guess:
2001, producer?, Chard, Sonoma
2001, Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma
put first 2 points in my score sheet
Wine #2
my guess:
2000, Producer? Riesling Oregon
2004 Goldwater Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
got me no points
Wine #3
my guess:
2001 producer? Pinot Gris Sonoma
2001 Chateau Grillet Condrie, France
put another point on the sheet.
Wine #4
my guess:
2003 producer? Gewurtz Germany
2003 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay, Russian River
made the total score of the flight 4
One lady sitting next to us, called her husband from her cell to give her help,
he is a wine store owner and he, based on her description, was able to pin point this one for the 5 pointer! whoo-hoo! This surreal scene reminded me the TV show
"Who wants to be a millionaire?"
Flight #2 - Beloved Reds!
Wine #5:
my guess: 1996, producer? Amarone, Veneto
surprise, surprise...
2001 W.H. Smith Hellenthal Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
For the life of me, I'd never guess that this raisiny, alcoholic juice was..Pinot Noir!
ZERO POINTS
Wine #6
my guess:
1998 producer? varietal? Region?
All I knew with 100% certainty that I NEVER tasted this varietal/region before in my life and..I was RIGHT about that!
1998 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie
That was my favorite of the entire tasting, I ordered 3 bottles afterwards + 2 1998 Guigal Cote Rotie (suggestion from Ward) This discovery alone was worth $75 entrance fee.
1 point
Wine #7
my guess:
1998 Dunn Cab Napa
1998 Mauro Veglio Vigneto Arborina Barolo
added another point to the score.
Wine #8
2001 producer? Merlot Sonoma
2001 Remelluri Rioja
added one more to the score sheet for the total 3 points in the flight
Flight #3 - more Reds, disappointing reds
We are not big into Shirazes from the new World, so we weren't rewarded much with taste in that one. Too sweet.
Wine #9
my guess:
2002 producer? Shiraz, first put Napa, crossed and put Australia instead. Robbed myself of a point, as
2000 Phelps Syrah Napa was revealed
1 point
Wine #10
my guess:
2002 producer? Merlot Sonoma
2000 Darioush Cabernet Napa
brought zero points
Wine #11
my guess:
2001 producer? Shiraz Australia
2003 Clarendon Brookman Syrah Australia
rewarded with another 2! points
Wine #12
my guess:
2001 Rosenblum Zinfandel Paso Roble
We had this wine once, we couldn't finish the bottle, the rare occasion in our family, as it tasted more like Port than Red Wine.
2003 Rosenblum Maggie's Reserve Zinfandel Sonoma added 2 points for the total 5 for the flight and
12 points total for the tasting...out of possible 60 points
(1 point for each correct guess and 1 point extra for all 4 correct guesses in each wine)
This was one of the most memorable night in a while,
doing blind tasting with the group of wine lovers who cheer every time they score a point is FUN, educational and GREAT expereince...beats watching football game in the bar by a mile
Analyzing my score, I dare to say our dislikes are ingrained in our heads much stronger than our likes and this applies not only to wines. Probably the part of our human psyche.
The winning score, split 3 ways was...15, so I don't feel bad with 12 points total.
a D'arenberg Chambourcin.