Blind Tasting is HARD!

On Saturday, I attended the Heritage Auction Blind Tasting Challenge (the same one that Jay H@ack and Izzy crushed last year). Frankly, if I hadn’t assured Ian Dorin that I’d be attending, I would have backed out.
I was somewhat relieved when I saw Adrian and Tim show up, but I still felt very out of my element. I don’t taste blind and many of the wines that I’m most familiar with (Riesling, California/Oregon Pinot, etc.) were unlikely to be on the “exam”. Bluntly, I was worried about embarrassing myself.

The good news is I didn’t do as badly as I feared, but the tasting was much harder than I anticipated. The set was that we were given 8 glasses and in 40 minutes we were expected to identify: country (10pts), region (15pts), vintage (20pts), appellation (25pts), vineyard (30pts) and producer (35pts) and variety (15pts). On offer was one white and seven reds, but the reds were all fairly tannic to my tastes, so after the third wine, my palate was pretty much shot. Even identifying the correct grape was pretty difficult. I think pretty much everyone felt humbled by the experience. Still, we got to taste some great wines – big thanks to Ian and the Heritage team for putting on the event.

For what it’s worth, the wines were:

Wine 1: 2006 Chapoutier Hermitage Blanc de l’Oree
(France/Rhone/Marsanne Roussane/2006/Hermitage/de L’Oree/Chapoutier)

Wine 2: 1971 Barisole (Rinaldi) Barolo
(Italy/Piedmont/Nebbiolo/1971/Barolo /Barisole-Rinaldi)

Wine 3: 2005 Jadot Pommard Epenots
(France/Burgundy/Pinot Noir/2005/Pommard/ Epenots /Jadot)

Wine 4: 1994 CVNE Rioja Gran Reserva
(Spain/Rioja/Tempranillo/1994/Rioja/Gran Reserva/CVNE)

Wine 5: 2001 Ponsot Clos de la Roche VV
(France/Burgundy/Pinot Noir/2001/Morey St. Denis/ Clos de la Roche VV /Ponsot)

Wine 6: 2000 Chateau Palmer
(France/Bordeaux/Cabernet-Bordeaux Blend OR Merlot Bordeaux Blend/2000/Margaux/Palmer)

Wine 7: 2000 Chateau Lynch Bages
(France/Bordeaux/Cabernet-Bordeaux Blend/2000/Pauillac/Lynch Bages)

Wine 8: 1995 Ridge Monte Bello
(USA/California/Cabernet-Bordeaux Blend/1995/Santa Cruz/Monte Bello/ Ridge)

That sounds like it would have been a great experience. Even with your palate being shot, was there one that stood out?

Challenging to say the least. I love blind tastings, but this takes it to another level. Some fine wines in the mix. I can understand your apprehension going in. Congrats of exceeding your expectations.

My wife and I attended the same tasting in LA and I agree it was a great event put on by Frank, Amanda, Ian and the rest of the Heritage team. Blind tasting is always humbling, but this was even more so as my wife outscored me and has bragging rights for the year (she guessed the Monte Bello, but missed the vintage and left the appellation blank)

Well we were somewhat unfortunate in that two additional groups were doing tastings that day with the same line-up that we had. Accordingly, we didn’t get the reveal until the following day. I regret that I didn’t take notes on each wine as I was focused on the exam (identifying variety, country, etc.).

The standouts for me were, not surprisingly the first two wines I tasted (because my palate took a quick nose dive). The 2006 Chapoutier Hermitage Blanc de l’Oree really stood out for its awfulness. It tasted ripe and reduced – I note that Adrian also hated this wine. The 1971 Barisole (Rinaldi) Barolo was one that I correctly called as Barolo. I was off by a year (I don’t know Barolo well) but I could immediately tell that it was an older wine by the color, which showed noticeable bricking. And while the nose was somewhat indistinct (initially thought France), the fact that it was still so tannic led me to think it was probably Nebbiolo/Barolo. I thought it might have had very mild TCA, but it was probably my favorite wine of the night. It’s not a knock on the Heritage team, who put on a fabulous event, but I think many of the wines could have used a lot more air.

[quote=“Corey N.”]On Saturday, I attended the Heritage Auction Blind Tasting Challenge (the same one that Jay H@ack and Izzy crushed last year). /quote]

If I recall correctly, Jay Hack did well two years ago. I don’t recall him doing well last year or this year. Only one Aussie wine in this year’s event so the other wines must have been tough on his palate.

I came in 4th in the NYC event two years ago. Totally bombed last year. Came in 2nd this year. I think a lot of it for me has to do with the make-up of the wines. There are regions that I don’t drink many wines from and if they are in the mix, I’m not going to do well tasting them blind.

As someone who tastes blindly several times a month, I can sympathize!

But what were your guesses, Corey? I usually report my guesses. It’s always interesting to see with hindsight why one guessed incorrectly, I think.

John, thankfully my guess book is at home. I’ll see if I can post later…assuming I’m not too mortified.

I like to think about tasting blind as an educational experience versus being right / wrong. Yea, it’s fun when I get one correct or pieces of it.

My blind tasting golf analogy is like putting from 30 feet. Nobody is great at it, even the pros, but the more you do it the more comfortable you become and typically end up closer to the hole on a consistent basis. Hopefully the 3 putts are reduced and sometimes you’ll drain one.

Using a golf analogy to describe the tasting – I studied the greens, took careful aim, inhaled deeply, slowly pulled back my blade…and sneezed as I took my stroke, causing the ball to hit the blade of the windmill and go careening in another direction.

Congratulations! That would be too intimidating for me. I could figure out the correct grape, perhaps the country. But region? Appellation? Vineyard? Only through a limited number of multiple choices and a lucky guess!

So, cowboy, you didn’t tell us your score. I went to one of the SF tastings. You had way better wines than we did

Did I mention the part where my mind went blank roughly the same time that my tongue went numb? I got a 195. How’d you do Alan?

Our group of friends tries to catch the others off guard and it can be very humbling…and hilarious…and awesome for the conversation!

Very brave, Corey. I’m glad you didn’t sucker me and my wiped out palate into this tasting

About the same, 200. It was embarrassing how many I screwed up completely.

Our wines (now that I look at them again, it was really a pretty nice group of wines. Just that some of them I never drink, particularly Italy, so was truly blind):

Wine 1: 2002 Niellon Chassagne Montrachet Clos de la Maltroie
My guess: 2008 Russian River Chardonnay

Wine 2: 2009 Pousse d’Or Volnay Clos de la Bousse d’Or
My guess: 2012 Burgundy, Savigny

Wine 3: 1989 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape
My guess: 2000 Tuscany

Wine 4: 2008 Marcarini Barolo Brunate
My guess 2001 Barolo

Wine 5: 2007 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Poggio alla Mura
My guess: 2005 Washington Cabernet

Wine 6: 2006 Dujac Gevrey Chambertin Les Combottes
My guess: 98 Napa

Wine 7: 1996 Chateau Pichon Baron
My guess: 95 Clerc Milon

Wine 8: 2013 Dominus
My guess: 2012 Napa, Bond
FWIW, for a wine that’s supposedly one of the wines of the vintage, I did not like this at all. But maybe I might in 20 years.

I had dinner with Ian last night. He said that was not a bad score…much better than average.

I really think it’s interesting to look at one’s mistakes, and ask why one made the guesses one did. Was it an understandable mistake or just an embarrassing lack of tasting ability?

I posted notes on a brown-bag tasting (no one but the person who brought the wine had any idea what it was). I posted notes here. Here were my guesses and reasoning, which I usually include because I think they help convey the personality of the wine:

2005 Taittinger- Comtes de Champagne – Blanc de Blanc: I guessed this was 12-15 years old (correct). The strong mousse suggested Champagne (correct), but the lowish acid and sweetness suggested New World (wrong). I went back and forth. The wine was a bit warmer than ideal, which may have deemphasized the acid and made it seem soft.

1971 Schiavenza Barolo: Many of us guessed pinot at first (not so uncommon with nebbiolo), and probably New World because of its sweetness. The fruit seemed too ripe and plush to be Burgundy. Then I wondered if it might be Cote Rotie from a warm year like 1990, or maybe even a Chateauneuf (71 was a great year in the Langhe). Plainly it had a couple of decades of age (though I certainly wasn’t guessing 46 years!). It was so giving on the palate that I never guessed nebbiolo. It didn’t have much nebbiolo aroma or flavor, but, man, this was a great wine. I still think 1990 Cote Rotie was a good guess!

1999 Silvio Grasso – Barolo – Ciabot Manzoni: A beautiful, balanced wine. I thought maybe a very elegant Tuscan sangiovese. A trace of oak in the finish. This is made in a modern style (short fermentation, small oak aging), which probably explains the lack of nebbiolo character. Tuscan wasn’t a bad guess since it didn’t have the signature nebbiolo rose hips and dried fruits.

I am not Alan but I got a 230. nailed one wine with everything but the vintage.

Oh fantastic! Congrats, Suzanne!