Customers were just here who were having a fun party: 20 people buy the best wine they can find under $15, each throws $5 in the pot then they do a blind tasting with the winner getting all the money. Sweet!
Sent them out with Corte Cariano Ripasso Corvina and an unoaked DRY NZ Riesling. Those should cut through all the supermarket Chard / Cab / Merlot like a machete…
blind tasting… with…
which wine people like the best? or who can pick out the most varietals.
Depends on your audience too. I can’t imagine a Riesling from NZ appealing to a broad spectrum of people . . . no matter how good.
Popular vote.
John, why would you think that an NZ Riesling would not appeal to people? It’s VERY popular here. Bone dry, no oak but nice citrussy fruit, not too alcoholic, perfect with sushi / ceviche / picnics / friends.
Those are the exact sort of wines that do not do well in blind tastings. It’s not a matter of what sells well for eating with dinner, but what stands out that night in a bag next to several others in a bag.
Could be a fun thing to do. I do know that if I wanted to win a blind tasting I would pick my wine differently than if we are just doing the tasting to experience a lot of wines.
Thanks Chris.
I didn’t say it would not appeal to PEOPLE. I said it wouldn’t appeal to a BROAD SPECTRUM OF PEOPLE. And thanks for the educational reaffirmation of NZ Riesling BTW . . . I mean some people don’t like dry, love oak, despise citrus, need alcohol, hate fish, the outdoors and have no friends!
Target audience here is mostly female, 23-30 and the client asked for “the cleanest, simplest, Zen like white you have, one that will be different from all that goopy chardonay and stand out…”
maybe he/she wants to have their wine to stand out, didn’t say he/she wants her/his wine to win! And do females like acid driven crisp whites more? I would think in a blind tasting the general public would like the fruitier the better.
Dry NZ Riesling…not a chance for the win…I would double down!
" And do females like acid driven crisp whites more?"
The women who shop here do. They also prefer earthier, funkier reds by a large margin over there fruit bomb swilling boyfriends / husbands / slaves…
Santa Monica…where woman hate Shiraz but drink lots of Port!
I’ve had blind tasting parties like this many times… a loose theme (ie, “mediterranean reds” or “syrah, anywhere in the world”, etc; sually with a price cap around $20). A mix of fairly wine knowledgable folks down to total novices. Just off the top of my head a dry NZ Riesling doesn’t sound like the way to win but I would never say it’s impossible! The Corvino maybe more so depending on how clean and fruity it is. Generally wines that win (remember winning isn’t impressing the best palates, it’s getting the most votes) fit this profile:
-unflawed
-unobtrusive
-largely unstructured
-fruity and likely a touch sweet
Luckily 2 Buck Chuck doesn’t usually win this kind of a tasting (usually gets pegged as one or more of - too thin, too sweet, or too chemical/artificial), but to give you an idea, some past winners I can recall off the top of my head: Gabbiano CCR, Francis Ford Coppola Syrah, Parallel 45 CdR, Honig Sauvignon Blanc, Selbach-Oster fish bottle Riesling, etc…
Dan, I would say our clientele for Porto is 95% male. Brachetto, now THAT’s another matter!
But seriously, it is the female part of our clientele who drive the “less oak, more rocks” white wines here and one of our most effective pieces of POS for reds is a sort of transit sign that says “Last Exit Off Dirt Road, Downtown Meatville Dead Ahead!” that we only deploy when truly appropriate. The ladies love them some “dirt and meat”…
Josh, that Corvina is practically a “baby Amarone” and WILL win. A lot of the girls at this party have pretty good taste. The results will be interesting.
But what made me post this was the prize money angle, never seen that one before.
I heard every girl in Santa Monica is a sophisticated wine drinker who only dabble in dry rieslings from Alsace, white burgs, and grower champagnes. Oh and the occasional random italian 
just messing with ya robert!
p.s. we did a blind tasting where we had to guess grape varietals and it was $20 a person to play. We did a select list of 10 grapes.
merlot/cab/pinot/syrah/grenache/mourvedre/zin/petite sirah/petite verdot/ Sangio/. Fun times… unfortunately I suck.
Charlie, re Santa Monica demos: 18 years ago when we were considering the Great Leap Forward into Italy, I stood at the door on a busy Saturday and asked people not IF but WHEN they had last visited Italy. Less than 25% had never been and 100% want to visit in the near future.
I enjoy messing with Roberto…FYI, I forwarded your brief summary on the history of “dry” champagne to my staff. They never learn from me, but maybe they will learn from you.
"p.s. we did a blind tasting where we had to guess grape varietals and it was $20 a person to play. We did a select list of 10 grapes.
merlot/cab/pinot/syrah/grenache/mourvedre/zin/petite sirah/petite verdot/ Sangio/. Fun times… unfortunately I suck."
Did you have representative examples or spoofed up stuff where they all tasted the same?
Roberto, I think they were all from Argentina…pure…
“I forwarded your brief summary on the history of “dry” champagne to my staff. They never learn from me, but maybe they will learn from you.”
My kids are all trained to GET AN EXAMPLE from the customer when they ask for “dry” or “fruit forward” or “earthy” or “not oaky” (a woman once gave Far Niente as her example of “not oaky Chardonnay”!!!) to calibrate against.
On a related note, since the Depression started, it seems that every time I ask “What price range do you want to be in?” I get “Oh…you know…” or “Moderate i guess…” and I have to ask, “What does that mean in numbers?”. The responses to THAT range from “under $10” to “not more than $50”.