“Can the berserkers beat the masters?” I asked myself this question because over the last few years I have met a lot of very talented tasters.
I wanted to do a follow up tasting to the Domaine de la Cote and Burgs dinner we did in 2023. (Linked below for reference.) I found it fun getting to taste with a master somm. This time I want to up the tasting and bring two master somms. Both are famous and were in the Somm documentaries, Laura Maniec, MS and Ian Cauble, MS.
The dinner is going to be hosted at Noreetuh in their backroom for about 20 people. With two masters, each table can have a master to compete against. Test your blind tasting skills against a famous master somm, or just participate to learn from them. After each flight, the masters will speak about the style and terroir of each of the wines, which I think is a fun little educational experience.
Where/When:
NYC, Noreetuh, Thursday, January 15th 2026. 6PM champagne start, begin tasting/eating around 6:30ish. I will probably be there 15-20 mins early.
Theme:
Burgundy, min 10 years of age, ideally premier or grand cru.
Requirement:
You MUST bring two bottles of the SAME wine or a MAGNUM (mag is ideal if you can swing it). With about 20 guests, we will need 2 bottles or a mag per person this way we have enough wine for each of the two tables. Feel free to bring any other bottles that do not need to be covered. The extra bottles can be whatever you want and served before the tasting, or during an afterparty, champagne etc…
While blinding is fun, I recognize that 20 blinds is a lot. Blind is not a requirement of this tasting if you prefer to just bring some really good wine to share and don’t have time to bag it. If you do wish to blind the wines, please ensure the bottles are covered in a bag or foil before attending. Jin told me with so many wines we would not have access to too many decanters, so if you wish to decant your wine, please double decant before you arrive.
Price:
I expect this to cost around $160-180pp because we will be covering the cost for Laura and Ian as they are our guests of honor.
Why?:
Because friendly competition is always fun, and it gives us a chance to taste and learn from the masters.
I am going to try and cap this around 20-22 people. If you’re interested, please let me know below.
Guests:
Me +1
Ian Cauble +1
Laura Maniec
@Michael_Chang
@Dinesh_Goyal
@Peter_B
@Dan_A
@Jon_Lawrence
@gavin.f
@B_Caputo
@RayChung
@JoelD
@Jesse_W
@Bryan_B
@Nick_Christie
@TGigante
@I.S_a_n_c_h_e_z
@Keith_Y +1
Wait List:
@Sandbergsm
@Juliec
@Mike_C1
Chris_Barton
neilb96
