I am in charge of a blind tasting for fun with work colleagues (mostly French) at someone’s NYC apartment.
Several colleagues have no idea about wine aromas and characteristics but they are interested. So I thought I would show them one of the simplest ones to pick out: cool climate vs warm climate.
I was thinking about choosing 2 reds and 2 whites: the same varietal that shows differently based on climate. I will need 2-3 bottles of each:
–a cool climate red
–a warm climate red
–a cool climate white
–a warm climate white
I have some ideas but I would love to know from the community which varietal or which wines you would choose for this blind tasting.
As an extra challenging layer for friends who already know wines and for whom this might be too easy, I wanted to see if those wines could be grown on different soils to be able to speak about the characteristics of the terroir. I would really like a wine that shows limestone. Maybe volcanic… others? do you have any suggestions?
For colleagues who may know nothing, keep it simple. Soils are for hardcore geeks (you’ll find plenty here), and even if a colleague is interested in such nitty-gritty, that might not be very inclusive for the others.
For me the obvious red one is Syrah from Northern Rhone, vs. Shiraz from Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale.
For whites chardonnay used to be the obvious choice, and maybe still is, but it’s easier to be tripped up with the new world producers showing more subtlety. Perhaps Chablis vs. Macon might be good enough a comparison. Same region of the same country, but the differences may be easier to pick than they might expect. As an alternative, find a producer active in France/Australia. One that springs to mind is Marchand and Burch. I don’t know if the winemaking is consistent, but if reasonably so, would give a very terroir-driven comparison.
Cold climate reds and whites with soil included: PN and Chard from Sta. Rita Hills (south of Hwy 246 for the diatomaceous earth cropping, north of 246 is more sandstone) vs Eola-Amity Hills (volcanic basalt)
“Hot” climate reds and whites: PN and Chard from Napa Valley that’s not in Coombsville or Atlas Peak.
Thank you, Ian, for the thoughtful recommendations! I love the idea of comparing two French wines - the French colleagues would love that. And syrah/shiraz would keep it simple, and I can imagine most would be successful…
The soil part would be to differentiate for and challenge the people who would want it (but not the point of the tasting). Of course the vinification part could change everything - but I’m not going there…
Super easy to find run off the mill hot climate PN/C, they are quite affordable too. Usually they are from Central Valley.
Diatomaceous Earth PN/C from The Hilt Estate is available in NY, not sure about NYC. Melville’s Estate PN and C are planted mostly on sandstone soil and are widely distributed in NYC, so if you wanna geek out on different soil you can buy from both producers.
I think any good wine shop in NYC will carry at least one PN/C from each of OR’s AVAs. If you can’t find Eola-Amity Hills for volcanic basalt, Dundee Hills works too, a little different with red Jory volcanic soil.
And good news, they are all under $40. Use Wine Searcher to find those bottles.
I’m surprised that no one has suggested different cabernets. I think you could compare a Napa cab from St. Helena or Calistoga, where it’s pretty warm, with one from the cooler Alexander Valley in Sonoma.
To compare soil types, you really need to control for all the other variables, which is very hard. A friend organized a Beaujolais tasting around that theme that was interesting, but it would take a lot of research, and so many other factors could overwhelm the soil type (e.g., winemaking, vintage, climate, clone).
In response to the suggestion of Chablis with Macon, that would be interesting if you pick carefully, but there is a lot of Chablis today that is harvested fairly ripe and aged in some new oak and doesn’t have the high acid and flintiness that used to define the character of Chablis.
If your criteria can expand to warm vs cool weather in the same appellation, consider 2018 vs 2021 Saumur or Chinon Cabernet Franc from the same producer.
You referenced limestone and there’s no lack of it over there, sufficient for you to determine the impact of climate change on it.
I think Ramon’s idea is an excellent one - 2018 and 2021 could hardly be more different and you’ll really taste the vintage effect with two Loire CFs from the same producer. If you want a soil which is mostly limestone, it’s a bit harder, especially in the price range.
Personally I’d drop the limestone and choose something like this:
Ian’s idea of chardonnay is also excellent. If you wanted to stay with France vs France, there are several Muscadet domains who produce chardonnays, like this one:
This could be compared with a Gérard Bertrand chardonnay from the Languedoc, for example:
They couldn’t taste more different and won’t break the bank. But there are loads of other possibilities.