Tasting Note Challenge: You taste. I donate.

[Brad_B_a_l_l_i_n_g_e_r]

@J a y H a c k

What? No Boones Farm! No Ripple! I am meeting with a bunch of Berserkers this afternoon. If I can find a bottle, it will cost you big time.

Maybe Mark will give you a special dispensation and allow white zinfandel.

[Mark_B]

@J a y H a c k

What? No Boones Farm! No Ripple! I am meeting with a bunch of Berserkers this afternoon. If I can find a bottle, it will cost you big time.

Sorry guys, rules are rules. Just remember, in order for your notes to count, I need to see legitimate pictures with separate notes from everyone drinking the wine. Also, I need confirmation that the supposed Berserkers are who they claim to be. As long as you meet these light requirements, the donation will ensue.

[Craig_G]

Brad, drink or hold?

[Brad_B_a_l_l_i_n_g_e_r]

@Craig Gleason

Brad, drink or hold?

Drink 23 years ago.

[Craig_G]

Or hold until you die?

[Mark_B]

@Craig Gleason

Or hold until you die?

That’s a dangerous proposition. The whole family will dissolve in the wake of a bitter inheritance battle over said wine.

[Craig_G]

I think you meant to say that the wine will dissolve the whole family when they drink it during the wake?

[Jeff_Cassetta]

@Tran Bronstein

First of all, mad props to Mark for coming up with such a humorous and appropriate twist for the members of this board on the ALS ice bucket challenge.

Second, props to Bob Hudak and Brad Bollinger for actually going through with the challenge.

Agreed!!! Fantastic guys…who knew that the Sunday funnies were on a wine board?

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

We have Wild Irish Rose red and white. We have at least four tasters. We are chilling the wine to make sure that the aromatics are appropriately balanced.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

Photos to follow as proof, but we have three notes and matching photos as proof.

My TN on Wild Irish Rose red cuvee. Light red, almost rose. acetone and red cherry on the nose. Sweet red Catawaba flavor, similar to dilute Manischewitz Concord Grape. Produced in Canandaigua, New York. Definite Finger Lakes red wine terroir. There is a bit of popcorn flavor but no butter on it. Finish lasts way too long. Still have that Smith Brothers Cough Drop flavor well after I hoped the finish would be gone.

[Ian_Alper]

Great tasting note Jay!

[Josh_Kurek]

Jay,

Thanks, umm at least I think so, for bringing the wild Irish rose red and white cuvée. I trust you will post the photos in due course but here is my note:

Grain alcohol meets bartles and james and they have one hell of a party. Somebody showed up with a strawberry rhubarb pie and threw it in the punch bowl too when nobody was looking. I expect this to leave an odd Tabasco like burning but it is actually sweet on the palate after it stings the nostrils (copyright Anchorman/Sex Panther, made with real bits of Panther). I could drink this but don’t really want to…

As for the charity once the photo is posted, would like any donation to go to LSA Family health services:

LSA Family Health Service

Thanks!

[BobH]

Jay-
The one saving Grace about the Mad Dog was that it had no finish whatsoever. When it was gone, it was gone. Thanks god.

[Mark_B]

@J a y H a c k

Photos to follow as proof, but we have three notes and matching photos as proof.

My TN on Wild Irish Rose red cuvee. Light red, almost rose. acetone and red cherry on the nose. Sweet red Catawaba flavor, similar to dilute Manischewitz Concord Grape. Produced in Canandaigua, New York. Definite Finger Lakes red wine terroir. There is a bit of popcorn flavor but no butter on it. Finish lasts way too long. Still have that Smith Brothers Cough Drop flavor well after I hoped the finish would be gone.

Ha, love the notes! Get at those pics, you’re so close!

[Matt_Neel]

OK, I did this today with Jay and Josh. Jay’s got some hilarious pictures but they’re on his phone. I had WIR White Cuvée…

NV Richards Wild Irish Rose “White”
Pale straw. An exuberant nose of acetone/nail polish remover and rotten lemons with a quaggy underbelly of catpuke (dry kibble and not Fancy Feast, thankfully) squats in the glass but doesn’t reach a micrometer above the lip; its heat (17% ABV) is pretty well controlled, to its credit, but my gall definitely rises, nevertheless. The palate is decidedly sweet and moderately syrupy; not a paragon of balance. Flavors of lemon drops, cough syrup, and corn syrup dominate. The finish, most unfortunately, is remarkably long, persistent, and tenacious – not unlike the burn from a glue-gun mishap on the back of one’s hand. Not a vin de garde, in my view. Eschew as a general matter, though I’m pretty sure I’d survive a run-in with this on The Bowery (pre-2000s versions) after a few bad choices if it ever comes to that…

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

The photos:

First, the line up:

The Host

Matt braving the Cuvee Blanc. I can say that it definitely had nose of Acetone.The nose was right out of a bottle of lemon scented nail polish remover.

Yours truly - my first ever selfie:

By the way - the ABV on the Cuvee Rouge was 17% and I think also on the Cuvee Blanc.

We have one more photo of a taster but I must make sure she will write a note before I post the photo.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

Finally, a proper TN. I had to enter the wine myself onto CT. I hope Eric doesn’t mind, but all in the name of charity.

• NV Richards Wine Company Concord Wild Irish Rose - USA, New York, Finger Lakes, Cayuga Lake (9/1/2014)
  Light red, almost rose. acetone and red cherry on the nose. Sweet red Catawaba flavor, similar to dilute Manischewitz Concord Grape. Produced in Canandaigua, New York. Definite Finger Lakes red wine terroir. There is a bit of popcorn flavor but no butter on it. Finish lasts way too long. Still have that Smith Brothers Cough Drop flavor well after I hoped the finish would be gone. I swallowed in it the name of science, so it gets 60 points, which is my minimum for a wine that your reflexes did not force you to spit out. (60 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Mark_B]

Oh man, those tasting notes are worth their weight in gold. That Wild Irish Rose appears to have many a prickly thorn.

As promised, your donations will be directed to whichever charities you see fit. Thanks for playing!

[Mark_B]

[Josh_Kurek]

Thanks, Mark!