I would say around 40 times (probably a few more), mostly over the past 6-7 years or so. Most recently a Domaine des Tours Merlot Syrah 07 and an Occidental Freestone 20 at the same tasting a few weeks ago (both brought by the same person - he was a little bemused by this). I drink blind a lot, by preference I would almost always do so (for the first half of the (first) glass), unless at an instructive or portfolio tasting. It’s hard when ordering from a wine list but at wine bars with coravin I tend to ask for a few half glasses blind before seeing what I would like to drink (I probably do this once or week or so).
With that, I would say that a few of my assessments have been helped along by deductive reasoning, based on knowing my fellow tasters and the wine market we’re drinking in (knowing that a new vintage of a particular wine was released recently some times brings it naturally to mind, for example). I would say another chunk come from tasting very distinctive wines. Apart from the unmistakeable des Tours, I also got an 18 Egly-Ouriet Rose right lately, but that’s hardly a huge achievement (the wines are very distinctive, and although you don’t always guess the vintage correctly, a fair few recent releases end up in the right place). The one I’ll always remember is a Chateau Margaux 1940 a few years back, after about 30 seconds. Getting the vintage was a fluke, though thorough reading of Broadbent’s vintage notes as a student probably helped.
That was a magical night. And the one and only time I’ve done that starting with zero clues or theme, though knowing you brought it helped. I should have bought a lottery ticket.
I recall a Heitz Martha’s from the ‘70s, though my first thought was another Napa cab from that decade. The eucalyptus then announced itself. But 20 years down the road I can no longer remember the specific year (‘78?) or the 1980s Bordeaux you also brought. I’m sure I have it written down somewhere.
I have nailed a wine before and yes, it does hep to know the cellar and preferences of who brought the wine.
I’d say that within the group of my oldest wine friends the group collectively nails country, region, and decade with surprising accuracy. In some regions with very singular producer profiles (eg Reynaud wines), nailing producer is more possible/likely. In a region like Bordeaux, far less likely to nail producer, but decade, even specific vintage, and left/right bank are much more possible/likely.
I think this is probably the most accurate description of the experiences I’ve had as well.
How many wines have I guessed wrong…thousands.
How many wines have I been “locked in” and my intuitive guess has been correct. Probably less than 20 across the last 20 years.
Exposure to tasting is essential. I was very fortunate to have some wine mentors that opened a lot of “old” wines from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s in the early 00’s when I was just learning. Understanding how an old wine could seem younger and other things to look for have been invaluable across the years.
That’s true of some of my friends, but they’ll often go off script if presenting something blind. We rarely do blind tastings, though. That too makes guessing a bit more of a crap shoot.
I’ll say this for Tim: he’s brought terrific wines to our dinners over the years from many regions across many decades. About the only thing I was pretty confident of before the wines were poured is that they were likely to be between 30-100 years old.
I’ve nailed 2010 Chevillon Pruliers (including vineyard) and 1986 Lynch Bages both blinded by my dad, but knowing the types of wines in his cellar definitely helped…
I think there may have been one more during pandemic Zoom tasting, but I can’t remember which wine it was. Again, knowing the persons cellar helped.
I think knowing the people’s cellars can help to some degree but a lot also depends on the wine. Zero people suggested Chassagne Rouge for my 2000 Clos de la Boudriotte that I brought to the Noreetuh blind tasting, even though I’m one of the biggest Chassagne Rouge evangelists out there. All the guesses were Chambolle either 1er or Grand Cru with a bit of morey and gevrey thrown in.
Interestingly, I poured a couple chambolle blind for people last year and people were trying to call it Chassagne Rouge then (which I a little bit get, but I think the 09 Barthod and Mugnier Fuees are significantly bigger wines than most Chassagne Rouge).
Never counted but my experience is similar to Evans and Otto. So somewhere in the 5-10 range. When I was going to lots of tastings I was skilled at discerning kinds of wine and more knowledgeable with that than I am now.
As others have mentioned its often a combination of the actual wine’s expression and deduction. For instance I deduced an 06 SQN at an auction house tasting while having drank very few SQN’s. I had been tasting a lot of CA Syrah at the time, back when Frank Murray still drank red wine. So I knew what was in my glass was CA Central Coast Syrah by its expression. Something about it made it seem at a certain age and reminded me of 2006 wines I had tasted. Then it was a matter of what CA Syrah is an auction house going to pour? So I looked up what was the name of the 06 Silly Qua Non in CT on my phone and voila! I actually crossed out the precise bottling name on second thought and they wanted me to take the call anyway to give a perfect score.
Blind when we know the theme and the theme is Burgundy? A few close calls; a lot of big misses.
Best one recently was a “half-assed, half-blind” guess. @Dennis_Atick proposed a theme of *Good producer, on the young side, Roche or Charmes.**” I texted back, I suspect Amiot, H. Lignier or Dujac” and we went with Clos de la Roche.
At the pour that night I called Lignier 2014 and nailed it. But I was pretty sure in advance that I’d be able to tell fruit-friendly Dujac from dense dark Lignier and 14 was a lean year so…
I’ve seen sophisticated esthete @Matthew_King, simply go thumbs up or thumbs down for vintage call-outs. Fun.
I thought double blind meant that you don’t know anything about the wine. It is either served in a decanter or just an unmarked glass is brought to you.
I’ve nailed probably dozens of wines correctly like this down to producer and cuvée, and probable close to dozen down to the exact vintage. Not always with the very first guess, but every now and then that way, too.
It becomes all too easy if you know something about the wine, ie. who brought the wine, the shape of the bottle, if it has something to do with the other wines in the tasting, etc.
Double blind traditionally means that both you and tester don’t know anything about the thing in question (like in drug trials). So a third person would have to move the sample into a generic vessel like a carafe before the tester serves it to you.
