I often do blind tastings where I give tasting notes (from the notable pundits) along with the wines. Even in the context of where people know what they are tasting it is often hard to guess. Double Blind would be almost impossible for me.
I lucky guessed one, and had a few that were pretty close.
But I was witness to someone on this board who shall remain nameless (unless he wishes to reveal himself) nailing a double blind that I served: producer, varietal, vineyard, and even decade produced (might have even been the year). It was impressive.
For a region like Burgundy where producer, vintage, village and vineyard plays a significant part in the enjoyment of this hobby, blind tasting really sharpens and focuses your perceptions.
We have a group of 6 who meet regularly to taste double blind. Now it’s always Burgundy, typically 2 whites and 4 reds per tasting. We rotate who provides the wines, and we all have deep cellars of Burgundy. So not pure double blind, but still very informative and instructive. There’s usually a theme that is revealed after the guesses. After many tastings, one begins to get a rough understanding of vintage character and producer signature, but beyond that identification of village and vineyard is really hard.
The few times where I correctly guessed all 4 attributes it was for wines that I had previously tasted and remembered.
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I’ve done it a few times over the years, but it’s often a combination of experience with a particular producer/wine, a little deduction and a little bit of luck.
A couple of months ago a blind bottle showed up at our Saturday gathering. After everyone got through it and made their guesses I said “2009 Clape Cornas.” The friend who brought the bottle looked at me and said “Wrong, asshole. It’s the 2010.” 
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A couple of weeks ago a BWE friend who was visiting us joined our local wine group, one of whom brought a wine in a brown bag and asked us to try to identify it. After learning that it was from 1991, after a process of elimination, I correctly guessed that it was Insignia, which I had tasted once maybe ten years earlier at a BWE dinner, but never with this friend.
Full disclosure: Before my friend told us that the wine was from 1991, I guessed that it was a 2010 right bank Bordeaux!
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I like this explanation and comparison.
Having declared that I have never done it, never tried, and couldn’t if I did, let me defend the attempt (by others). A palate that can tease out the diagnostic criteria for a 78 Palmer is a palate that is much more likely (I guess) to identify wines the owner would like based on a small sample in a tasting, and is less liable to be seduced into buying something that, in the long run, will not satisfy.
I can’t do it, but I would value the ability if I could
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A handful of times where it was truly double blind. I’ve called Pichon Lalande ‘89 and ‘90, and a few times with Pape Clement, Ridge Monte Bello and Heitz Martha’s, the latter few I was off on the vintage, however.
I’ve also called many others which were double blind, yes, but because I had familiarity with the group’s cellars, I was at an advantage, so that’s sort of cheating in the spirit of this thread. This includes many of the Peter Michael chardonnays, for example.
We participate in two double blind tasting groups that meet on a monthly basis, and there’s a smaller group we occasionally have dinner with that tastes double blind during dinner so we have a lot of opportunities.
It’s usually a very humbling experience.
2004 Rioja Alta 904
My one and only, and I generally suck at it. Really rarely do it, also.
Since paid critics give widely different descriptions, I don’t think those are any help at all in a blind tasting, though they can provide some entertainment when the wines are unveiled.
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Zero.
I am more inclined to think they describe all the wines the same! But your point is well taken - pundits tasting notes have limited utility.
None that I can remember.
Although the first time I ever tried a Sherry it was double blind — it was presented to me by a wine store owner who said, “Try this.” – I put my Nose in the glass, took a sip, and after a couple moments asked, “Is this Sherry?!?”. That’s probably the “best” I’ve ever done.
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Never perfectly.
Closest was an Emrich-Schonleber Halenberg where I missed the vintage. Though even that certainly had some luck since the vineyard guess was more a function of having had a lot more Halenberg than any of their other vineyards. Then again, perhaps that’s the reason I was able to get the producer.
Have had some other perfect or close-to-perfect guesses where I was helped out either by bottle shape (I mean, DP certainly has a distinctive signature but it’ hard to hide that narrow neck!) or by who brought it (looking at you @jprusack). The funniest one by blind luck was when @Juliec poured a red and I said “this color sure looks like Allemand…” and lo and behold…
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I’ve nailed Musar double blind a couple times just by following the rule, “When someone brings a blind wine, there’s a strong likelihood it’s Musar.” But never anything else.
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Got blinded by the late Daniel Cathiard in his home kitchen in Bordeaux and I was mortified by the experience but guessed the SHL correctly. The other wine which I was asked not to mention I did not guess correctly.
Several older CA Cabs when terroir was more pronounced, the wine less manipulated and were pre-point chasing lower alcohol styles.
Years of weekly Wednesday double blind tastings developed our skills. We were all young, single guys in the wine biz who were tasting OTJ as well.
Earlier editions Michael Broadbent’s Great Vintage Wine Book had photos of various regional wines demonstrating how maturity altered wine color striations of specific regional wines in younger and then mature stages when glasses were tilted against a white background. I got fairly proficient homing in on the ages of wines visually.
Three times in 57 years of being interested in wine.
Twice it was an Eisele Vineyard Cab.
Curiously, I’ve never been able to do it with the wines I made.
Not quite what was asked, but at the beginning of my wine career, I was able to identify wines that I had previously tasted blind. Great parlor trick that got me noticed, but that ability only lasted until my early 20s. Now, I can be hard pressed to even identify the color of a wine blind
Never for me. Wife did it once and she has no interest in wine except to drink good ones. Jesse Rodriguez and his 2 somm associates brought me a glass at Addison. I sniffed and swirled. No idea. Wife picked up the glass, sniffed, said, “89 Lynch Bages” and went back to talking with her friend. I picked the somms up off the floor.
Steve Zanotti formerly of Wine Exchange has a near photographic palate memory, if I can mix senses, I’ve seen him many a time completely nail a wine that was double blinded. Absolutely brilliant taster. Never seen anything like it.
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