Putting your money where your mouth is

I started a new "game" last weekend, inspired by James Molworth's (the Wine Spectator Rhone and Africa taster) blog "A Monster Palate" in which he talks about his wife Nancy having an excellent palate. The example he gave was her identifying a 10 year old pinot blind. So I decided to test my wife's palate... no just kidding. She isn't into the whole tasting blind game like me and would never consent to this. Instead I set out a case of wines (10 - 12) I chose and asked her to open one and have me try to guess the wine. It's been 4 wines now and how have I done?

Let's start by listing the initial wine choices. Note that I refilled some extra bottles as the tasting game proceeded, so all these weren't my choices for all days. But you get my drift.

1. Marquis Philips 2005 Shiraz
2. Marquis Philips 2003 Sarah's Blend
3. Jip Jip Rocks 2005 Shiraz/Cab
4. Columbia Crest 2004 Grand Estates Merlot
5. Columbia Crest 2001 Grand Estates Merlot
6. Wynns Coonaware 2002 Cabernet
7. Cameron Hughes 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet #10
8. Perrin & Fils 2005 Cote du Rhone Reserve
9. Opolo 2005 Paso Robles Mountain Zin
10. Hahn 2004 Meritage Central Calif
11. Vina Robles Red 4
12. Castle Rock 2005 Pinot Noir
    
13. Chateau Ste Michelle 2001 Indian Wells Merlot (Washington)
14. Justin 2004 Paso Robles Cabernet
15. Cycles 2004 Gladiator Cabernet
16. Fairview 2004 Goats du Roam in Villages (S Africa)
    

Each day we would play the guessing game. My wife, Sarah opened a bottle and I would guess. So how did I do over several successive days? Note the score = how well I was able to figure out the wine.. not the score of the wine itself.

Wine 1: I swore it was a Barossa Shiraz with dusty plum. I guessed all the Australian Shiraz's and then getting desperate, went through 3 or 4 more in exasperation. Finally I "guessed" the Hahn Meritage. Crap... I don't remember the Hahn Meritage tasting this way. Wow did I do badly. Score: D

Wine 2: The wine was a bit tired and had tea flavors so I proudly said the 2001 Columbia Crest Merlot which has not held up well, partly due to corky flavors. Wrong! I next guessed the Cameron Hughes 2002 Cabernet. Nope. After several more guesses, at which point I was in my 2nd tier of choices, I guessed the Wynns 2001 Cabernet. Correct. Ouch. Score: C

Wine 3: Very ripe berry almost too ripe. Thin. I guessed Opolo Zin. This really seemed like a Zin, given it's super ripe profile. Wrong. Several guesses later I finally got the Justin 2004 Cabernet. Wow, both on how badly I did and how unimpressive the Justin was. Score: C

Wine 4: Dark berry with dark woody tones and earthy spice with slight acidity. I guessed the 2001 Columbia Crest Merlot. No! I lamely guessed the Cote du Rhone. Nope. But shortly afterwards, I was told I basically had it right. It was a 2001 Washington Merlot - Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Merlot. Sarah was impressed I nearly got it with the correct year, region and varietal, on my first guess, though I had forgotten I had put this into the mix. Score: B+

At this point I replenished the box with a few more wines.

1. Fairview 2004 Goats du Roam in Villages (S Africa)
2. Mas Neuf 2005 Costières de Nîmes (French Cote du Rhone)
   
3. Piping Shrike 2003 Barossa Shiraz
4. Seven Deadly Zins 2004

Wine 5: At work, that evening, I had had two delightful wines (Marquis Philips 2005 Shiraz (wow) and 2003 Columbia Crest Merlot). After biking home, Sarah opened up a bottle. Intense ripe plum with berry and spice in the nose. Big chocolate notes initially that disappeared over time. Good acidity. Thought this might be a Barossa, but no. Nice spiciness on the long, juicy finish. I was really stuck after guessing the Vino Robles Red 4. I had forgotten and never would have guessed the Fairview 2004 Goats du Roam in Villages Red. Who knew an African wine could taste so big. Score: C

Wine 6: I had gone shopping that day at Santana Row. Had a nice Italian wine from Vintage wines that I bought and had opened at the Left Bank. I also had an excellent glass of Edge 2003 Cabernet. Anyways I digress. Had some friends over for a dinner of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and pasta. Sarah picked: dark fruit, lean, acidic, with that unmistakably french earthy smell. I confidently guessed French Bordeaux. Nope. After several other guesses, including the Rhone, I was told it was the French Mas Neuf Costières de Nîmes. I had bought this that day but had forgotten I had put it in the guessing box. And the tasting notes from WS were quite different "nice ripeness, with creamy layers of fig, mocha and plum sauce that give way to medium-bodied tannins and a very pure, minerally finish". There was no cream or nice ripeness. This was a unripe dark wine with earth and then minerals. Nonetheless I'm proud for sticking to my guns of France. Score: B

Wine 7: I don't know how Sarah does it. She admitted it was the einy-meany method of selecting, that basically means she's choosing at random. As we cleaned out the fridge of some very old food, I sniffed her selection: big, fruity with a spicy perhaps chocolaty note. A big wine. But subsequently the wine had shut down. Not remembering my list too well, but 5 of 12 were Aussies, I guessed the 2002 Lehmann's Cab (Australia). Nope. I then guessed the Vina Robles 2004 R4 from Paso Robles? Nope. The Chilean Montes Alpha Syrah? The wine had red fruit with lots of acidty and might be pinot. Finally I remember the Piping Shrike 2003 Shiraz (Aus). Or could it be a super ripe Pinot, say the Castle Rock which I had not tasted. I guessed the Piping Shrike. Yes. Score: C

So basically, I'm not doing well so far. But I'm optimistic I'll improve. And it's been very educational. And mostly a lot of fun! Tasting truly blind (which apparently is part of the master sommelier test) is harder than it appears. And I'm enjoying it every day.

Pour an extra glass for yourself but ...

Tonight I discovered that the empty wine glass you look longly at (well, I do) after the last sip, smells great! It develops an intense bouquet, much stronger than a full glass of wine. It is as if the remains in the glass have nothing better to do than evaporate, cutting to the chase on what the wine smells like devoid of the fruit and alcohol. Let's call this the sniffing glass. Tonight, the Hahn Meritage 2004 was mostly plumy with a bit of spice. But from the sniffing glass, I got a rich spicy nose of allspice, pepper and more.

So pour an extra glass but make it a tiny one at that and drink it. And then stuff your nose into it. I think you will be rewarded.

The Aussie triumvirate for big ripe reds under $20

My goto wine when I want something I know I and my wife will like is a big Shiraz or Cabernet from Australia. And in the last 2 years, I've realized there are three consistent selections. They are all similar in being big, rich, ripe fruit bombs. But there a nice complexity and sometimes a nice acidity to go along. I now call them the triumvirate of Australia. Additionally they are all under $20; with a lean retailer, some can be had for under $14.

In no particular order, they are:

1. Marquis Phillips - the 2003 Cab was so consistently delicious over 6 bottles, I wish I had more. The Sarah's blend in 2004 was nice. More recent bottles of all types have that consistent rich lush texture. And at under $15, how can I go wrong?
2. Tait Ballbuster - the 2004 was a revelation (though many other wines tasted superb that night, too). I've snapped up the 2005 Ballbuster and the two bottles were quite nice. Quite yummy with classic Barossa taste in a rich caramelly body.
3. Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Ridge - being a score whore (2003 got WS 93), I got 3 + 3 bottles at under $15, even though the first bottle wasn't that good - lean and acidic which is diametric to the reviews. I still bought the 2004 and the 2005, too, since they were 90+ WS. And I've come around. The 2005 was delicious, a big juicy Barossa. And a recent 2003 was very nice, not as big as I expected but very flavorful. I suspect these wines will age nicely for upto 4 years. I less optimistic the fat Tait and Marquis Philips will age well, though.
   

With the 2006's starting to come out, it is time to stock up again.

The blind leading the blind

I ran a blind tasting at work earlier this week. There were 2 whites and 7 reds, despite it being summer, because I like reds. To help add to the fun, I asked people to match up the wines with the varietal and also to the region, both of which I had shuffled. But the kicker was I said I'd waive the tasting fee if anybody got them all correct. Most people didn't even consider this a possibility but there were a few who hoped they might live up to the challenge, such as Andre.

I've been to a few blind tastings before and they are very hard, actually well nigh impossible. So I tried to reduce the impossibility factor by choosing distinctly different varietals (chardonnay, riesling, tempranillo, merlot, shiraz/cab, syrah, zinfandel, GSM rhone, and pinot noir). I also didn't distinguish too much among regions: Spain, France, Napa/Sonoma, Monterery, etc.

The wines were all in paper bags (from Trader Joe's since they're one of the few places that still uses wine bags). As Andre walked in, he noticed me still uncorking and bagging some of the wines and said "You know we'll be able to get a lot of information from the corks." I calmly replied "Yes, I know, that's why I've shuffled the corks, because there's people like you I have to worry about." We both laughed and chatted some more. As I kept repeating "I tried not to make it too hard", a small part of me worried that several people might guess them all.

The result: it was a slaughter: wines 89, tasters 0. Two people got roughly 2/3 of the varietals and regions right, but nobody else was close. The stories are legion of how poorly people pick out wines blind and this tasting confirmed it. At the very least, I figured people could tell a riesling apart from a big, ripe Chardonnay (Kendall Jackson Monterey Reserve). But many said they got this wrong. One person thought the Riesling was the chardonnay, until they tasted the actual chardonnay and realized their mistake. And in perhaps the worst display of tasting skill of the year, "Mary" who had seen the Seghesio being uncorked thought all the red wines were the Seghesio.

And the sad part was I wasn't even close. You see I had to assign the wines in a hurry, to finalize the print out before the event. I was struggling with Google Spreadsheets, as I wanted to reorder one particular column (the varietals) so it would no longer be aligned with the rest of wine information in the print out where people guessed. But let's just say I was having problems, despite my closeness to this product. So I didn't really remember what I had assigned. I finally got to the tasting room late so I was fully focused on just getting the right wine uncorked and bagged (and the corks swapped) and not paying attention to which wine was which. During the tasting, I found the red wines were all big, rich and fruity and tasting well. I found myself liking E and was surprised it was the Seghesio 2005 Zin, just confirming my Seghesio Curse. I also quite liked J (Columbia Crest 2004 Merlot Grand Estates) which is excellent news given its $8 price. Wine "C" (right after the whites, which was a mistake) was big, alcoholic and a bit closed. Even the Cote du Rhone (Perrin & Fil Cote du Rhone Reserve at $7) as big an fruity, with a hint of mineral.

I also listed tasting notes from the critics, mostly Wine Spectator and Robert Parker, just to see if people could see what the critics were talking about. I think people had a lot of enjoyment on this. At one point Brett asked if wine J (Columbia Crest Merlot) was the wine "Bursting with blueberry and currant fruit,...". After I confirmed this, he excitedly said, "Yes! I can so taste the blueberries in there".

Another person "Joe" at the serious tasting table was proud that he picked out the Merlot. I said that was impressive as Merlot tastes so different from across the world and I was happy he had found a new wine he liked. Andre opined that a Pomerel Merlot would taste quite different. But then "Joe" said "Actually, I don't like Merlot and I didn't like wine J so I figured it must be the merlot". This reaffirms the point that you can reliably pick out what you don't like. (At a previous hard tasting at the Wine Club, my wife somewhat confidently picked out the Chilean wine (2002 Don Melchor Cab) as she just does not like wines from Chile. I was hopelessly clueless at this tasting going 0 for 10.)

The highlights for me were

1. People had a good time. Sometimes this happens and other times it doesn't.
2. The wines tasted very good. Sometimes this happens and other times it doesn't. At the end my favorite was the Neyers Syrah, which finally opened up to be a big rich dark smokey coffee tinged beast. (Tanzer gave it 93, WS gave it 87. I'd give it a 93, too).
   
3. Many people discovered they liked varietals they didn't think they liked. The best occurred when these wines were inexpensive and widely available. My favorite example was Eva who swore she didn't like Chardonnay, but she liked wine "B", which is a big ripe, fruity, chardonnay. Go figure.
   

My favorite wine pairing

I've discovered something that pairs beautifully with wine. A bonus is that it pairs nicely with reds and whites. It is neither a meat nor a dairy product (cheese). And you don't need to be at a fancy restaurant to get it. In fact, it's probably at your local Costco.

And here's the kicker, I like it both before and after having wine, but not while drinking wine. As it clashes badly. Very badly. With all wines. Because I'm talking about Gatorade. Roughly $1 for 750ml. A big swig before and many swigs after the "wine and that food pairing".

I had heard that Gatorade can reduce the effects of overindulgence and it seems to work for me. My guess is the salts and electrolytes are the key. And it forces you to drink some fluid. I've put the G drink to the test three times and in all cases, I've felt fine the next day, albiet a little tired.

It's not that I haven't tried other cures. Lots of water...ok, but not bullet proof. Water with a vitamin... about the same as just water. Intermixing water and wine during the event is probably the wisest course of action, but requires more discipline than I can often muster. And more wine the next morning... a stupid idea even by my standards, as I only drink in the morning when not starting out hungover.

So to conclude, try Gatorade and see how it works for you. And if you insist on a pairing rule:
Red punch after red wine and lemon-lime after whites. But as with all wine pairings, it is really what tastes good to you. It can't get much simpler.