Saturday Wine Challenge

Every Staurday from 5 to 6PM (Excluding Wine Fair Days) we blind taste 1 white and 1 red in an attempt to hone our skills as wine tasters. You are encouraged to bring a bottle of wine to the tasting to share with the group. The goal is too see how well we identify varietal characteristics, work on our wine vocabulary and see what happens when you take the label away from a wine.

 Cost: $10+tax & gratuity / Person (Free with a bottle of wine from your cellar, and "no" Grocery store Barefoot, Yellowtail, etc does not count) 

Location: Bodega Bar

Results - Saturday September 12, 2009

Class: Beckie, Lee, David, Brian and Amier (Myself)

# of Wines: 4

Since the class came together, they may not have been as blind as I was in this tasting. I had no knowledge of any of the wines, vintages or regions being poured for us that evening. I started with 4 empty Riedel glasses that were quickly filled by the staff.

In Blind Tastings I always do a quick "sniff" test looking for any obvious varietal or regional character.

Wine #1- White Wine, Probably Domestic Chardonnay by the nose

Wine #2 - Red Wine, Lighter in Color, Rustic Italian all over the nose, Likely Sangiovese from Tuscany

Wine #3 - Red Wine, Definite Rhone Herbs and Minerality, Meaty in the Nose, Likely Northern Rhone Syrah

Wine #4 - Red Wine, Menthol and Eucalyptus all over the nose, No Blackberry fruit more prunes and black cherry, Likely Merlot or Merlot Blend from Australia or very Warm Climate

The next step I follow in a blind tasting is to really look for a region. Where do I think this wine is from.

Wine #1 - White Wine. It had so much richness and butter, creme brulee, vanilla and baking spices. It sees substantial oak. It must be a domestic malo-chardonnay. Russian River or Carneros.

Wine #2 - Red Wine. This wine gave off tons of dried black cherry aromas, with Cedar, and sandlewood, a hint of struck match, forest floor and earth. By color and nose, this was likely a high end Chianti Classico from a warm vintage.

Wine #3 - Red Wine. This wine continued to show a very Syrah like nose with a gamey, cherry blossom quality, a little white pepper, some great minerality. Still convinced Rhone, most likely Northern Rhone, with the pepper leaning towards Cote-Rotie.

Wine #4 - Red Wine. Still a foreign object to me. Smells like a cooked Merlot with some Crayon and Menthol, Medicinal qualities. Not sure if it is giving me anything except that it comes from a warm climate. I start thinking Malbec or Merlot from Australia or Argentina.

Now to the fun part the tasting evaluation. Here you look to confirm what you have learned from the nose. Sense all flavors stem from olfactory system it should be very close. Things that don't always appear on the nose, but on the palate - Acidity levels, Alcohol levels, Overall balance of PH and fruit, Length of finish, and just general enjoyment of the wine.

Wine #1 - White Wine. The Palate confirmed the nose of a rich chardonnay from California. However, there was a great underlying acidity for a wine with such concentration and alcohol. It was extremely balanced for what often gets over oaked or to buttery in my opinion. So when you look at Russian River or Carneros as my two places of origin, I leaned towards Carneros, which tends to make a little higher acidity in wines (Cooler). I rated this wine a 9/10, and found it to be a top effort for California Chardonnay. The wine ended up being the DuMol Russian River Chardonnay 2007. Well of course it was. If you are not familiar with DuMol as a chardonnay producer, you are really missing out. By the way, the Pinot Noirs aren't too bad either. The only knock you can make is that starting at $65 a bottle, it can put it out of reach of most customers and into only on special occasions spot.

Wine #2 - Red Wine. THis wine displayed the bracing acidity of Sangiovese which makes it great with tomato sauces but sometimes to acidic by itself. The wine seemed to have a stewed fruit edge as well. So it made me think it was from a warm vintage. Tannins were relatively mild and the oak was there but not that pronounced. I guessed Chianti Classico 2003. To my surprise it was the DaVinci Brunello di Montalcino 2003, not one of the greatest Brunello producers but defintiely affordable. I must say I was disappointed in the character, yet found the wine to be enjoyable. I rated it 7.5/10

Wine #3 - Red Wine. Well I was convinced this was Syrah based and eventhough more spicy raspeberry fruit started to come out. I just thought it was the Viognier bringing out a different fruit profile. This is a demonstration of how you can sometimes convince yourself of something. I gave it 9/10 as I really enjoyed every ounce especially as it showed more and more fruit. I guessed Cote-Rotie 2004 a softer vintage for Rhone. The wine ended up being a 2006 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf-du-Pape. I am very confident if I had started to sample this wine at the 30 minute point versus right when it was poured, I would definitely been in the more Chateaneuf, Cotes-du-Rhone, Gigndas guess range. Still what a great wine.

Wine #4 - Red Wine. I am not sure what the problem with this wine was. Maybe it was cooked on delivery, Maybe it spent time in the sun, or maybe it just wasn't any good. We all tried to find good qualities but it was a struggle. The waxy, crayon, Rubber, prune, scorched black cherry fruit was firm and seemed unbalanced all the way through the wine. The Eucalyptus and menthol still made me think Australia, but I have found when I struggle this much it usually Argentina Malbec. I find Argentina can make wonderful, full rich malbec, to undrinkable unbalanced wines. I rated this wine 3/10, I would say I did not hate this wine, yet it was hard to like as well. Firestone Merlot Santa Ynez 2005. After it was revealed Santa Ynez is a warmer climate and maybe I git rubber from the tires on the property. Just kidding.

Next Blind Tasting Saturday March 6, 2010

From 4 to 5PM