6 of us blind tasted 6 red blends from Napa or Sonoma, lowest point score wins.
5/6. Tie - 2012 District 4 Napa $35 - 28pts - 3 lasts - not as much fruit as the others, a little earthy, not much going on.
5/6. 2013 White Oak Mighty Oak Napa $19 - 28pts - 2 lasts - little off odor at first, not much fruit (my last).
2016 Decoy Red Sonoma $20 - 22pts - 1 first - lighter, fruity, sweet, not much depth.
2014 Cuvaison Two Estates Napa $59 - 19pts - 1 first - a little sweet, not too bad
Alpha Omega II Napa $39 - 15pts - 1 first (mine) - a little fruit forward, not too sweet, nice depth
2016 Malm Cross Blend Sonoma - $16 (Costco) - 14pts - 3 firsts, 1 last (my second) - nice fruit, sweet, nice balance
The bottom two were the oldest of the six and one taster said they tasted “older” to him.
For the money, the Malm is a terrific buy - without the one last place it would have even scored lower.
Hi Mike - Interesting tasting. For me, the only way I would rank wines like these is if they were all the same vintage. Your comment about the bottom 2 were the oldest of the 6 leads me to believe there is something to my thinking.
The only other way I would rank wines of different vintages is if they were all from the same winery.
But that’s just me!
Thanks, Merrill, but we aren’t as serious about it as some here.
Our primary reason for the tastings is to find new wines we like.
And to take the trophy home with bragging rights.
Be curious to see you do this with Washington red blends, ranked and then if you preferred WA over CA at this price point. My guess is you would.
Thanks, Merrill, but we aren’t as serious about it as some here.
Our primary reason for the tastings is to find new wines we like.
And to take the trophy home with bragging rights.
Oh come on, you knew I would post something like that! Some of us can’t help ourselves. I promise not to geek out too much the next time we get together.
Since the California wines are so accessible to us that’s usually what we taste although we have done a French, Spanish or Italian varietal.
We have had Washington wines along with the CA ones - see our tasting of merlots last month posted here:
A few years ago, I believe maybe a 2010 H3 won or came in second in our cabernet tasting.
Columbia Crest and Chateau St. Michelle are some of the wines we recommend to our millennial kids when they want an inexpensive recommendation.
