Blind wine tasting is hard!

This week I attended a blind wine tasting hosted by Wine Australia, and I thought, "easy, I'm going to smash this", and although Aussie wines are some of my favourites, I haven't done any blind tasting since my WSET exams five years ago (gosh is it that long?!). I got it wrong. I got it all wrong.

We were given a piece of paper where we could write our notes, and given another which posed 7 questions about the wines, which we had to hand in at the end. Answer papers were marked and the top 4 people given recognition (no-one listed below the top 4, and no scores revealed - thus preventing any (my) embarrassment). It was a lovely experience and my fellow wine tasters were charming.

There were three flights of wine - Flight 1: four white wines, Flight 2: three red wines, and Flight 3: four red wines. We had to guess the single grape variety in each flight, decide which wines were from the same region in each flight, and identify the one wine of the day that was not from Australia (and where it was from). Straightforward right? It would seem... until you throw the way my brain works into the mix. Let me explain...

Flight 1:
My first thought was Chardonnay, of course these are Chardonnay, but hang on wine #1 is oily - in the way that cocoa butter is oily, and lemon aroma, so a bit like eating a Hotel Chocolate Lemon white chocolate. Yum. But not typical of chardonnay. There's a slight spritz on the tip of my tongue - again atypical for Chardonnay, hang on could this be Semillon? It has a full body - tick - and is not very complex (i.e. doesn't have many different flavours coming through - similar to a pinot grigio) - tick. Then I looked at the legs (the viscous drops down the side of the glass, which indicates alcohol level), and wiped it from my mind, no, no it can't be a Semillon, as Semillon has low alcohol, these thick legs mean high alcohol... so I continued tasting Flight 1 thinking the wines were Chardonnay (both wines 2 & 3 had buttery notes - typical of Chardonnay, but also possible for Semillon). But then, Wine 4 threw me - it was quite light and pale, with citrus and mineral, and dental floss (or, rather, a medical tasting eucalyptus flavour) - this can't be Chardonnay screamed the devil on my left shoulder! The angel on my left was too timid to remind me of the typical Chardonnay characteristics I had experienced with the other two wines.
I wrote Semillon on the answer sheet. These wines were Chardonnay. Then they asked which wine is from Barossa and although the eucalyptus is blatantly a clue for Wine 4, I wrote down Wine 1, because that white chocolate flavour made me think it had to come from a hot climate. I wonder now if that white chocolate is a result of a process during winemaking (such as Malolactic fermentation - I can cover this another day), rather than a characteristic representative of the terroir (the place where the grapes are grown). Bobbins!

Flight 2:
The wines were very pale in colour and had delicate aromas (i.e. you can't smell a thing), the wines had brownish edges, a sign of ageing. Wine 5 tasted of charries and burnt toffee, Wine 6 reminded me of eating fresh red fruits and buttered toast in the mountains, and Wine 7 felt like red velvet and made my lips tingle. It must be Pinot Noir - it's a widely-grown grape in Australia, it's pale, and ages well. But then, my brain switched again, I know that Austalians are using a much wider variety of grapes than we normally think of, and there was something distinctly savoury about these wines, and that brown colour that made me think it could be something else... ooh... Nebbiolo?! I wrote that down. WRONG - they were Pinot Noir - Doh! I saids wines 5 & 6 were made in the same region: wrong again! Wines 6 & 7 were.

Flight 3:
These wines showed characteristics of jammy fruit, blackcurrants, and vanilla. Where they differed to each other was Wine 8 had cooler climate sturcture (less jammy, higher tannins), Wine 9 was more Ribena-y and spicey and was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS, Wine 10 had a brick colour to the edges, Wine 11 was cherries, chocolate, and a bitter finish, Wine 12 had a tar aroma. So the debate was Shiraz versus Cabernet Sauvignon. Now, none of the wines had the characteristic Eucalyptus found in Aussie Cab Savs, so these wines were more typical of Shiraz. However, cherries, chocolate and a bitter finish (Wine 11) are atypical for Aussie Shiraz, as is the roughness of a tar aroma (Wine 12). So I wrote down Cab Sav. What I didn't think to consider was Wine 11 was not an Aussie Shiraz, it was from Chile; and Wine 12 was a £9 bottle of wine, which caught me out! In my blindness, I wrote that Wine 9 was the not-Australian wine, and because a) I had convinced myself these were Cabernets, and b) my other favoured region for wines is California, I wrote down Cali as the origin of the non-Aussie wine.

Stung on every question. I may have studied extensively and passed my WSET exams, but without practice you lose your touch. I intend to go back next month and try again, this time I hope to report better results! #practicemakesperfect

Thank you @Wine-Australia

The Sampler Blind Tasting

I was disappointed with the blind tasting at The Sampler in South Kensington London last week. It was a divine idea, and I was really looking forward to testing myself in the run up to my WSET Advanced exam.

Find out about other tastings at The Sampler here

It was very good value for the wines they had chosen, and organisation of the tasting was fantastic, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I don't blame The Sampler per se, I blame the knob know-all who turned up and ruined the evening for the rest of us. Unfortunately the lady who was running it didn't have enough gravitas to put him in his place and coach the rest of us back out of our shells.

Sitting down at three tables, a bit too spaciously to talk to the others around our table, we were given two glasses of sparkling wine to start with, a piece of paper to write our notes, and a tasting guide. Great, I'll start my process of elimination to figure out what I've got...
1. Many fast small bubbles, light gold colour, pronounced aroma with biscuit flavour, high acidity, so traditional method...
2. Slow small few bubbles, light lemon colour, low intensity aroma, citrus fruits, so tank method...

I hadn't got to whether I thought it was Cremant or Champagne, Prosecco or a NZ sparkling, when the lady asked us: "So does anyone have anything to say about these two wines looking at the tasting notes, perhaps a comment on how they think it was made?" Immediately followed by the gentleman to my left shouting "On the left is La Chapelle and the right is that Spanish sparkling you have". The lady tried to lead him away into talking more about how he got to those answers and what that meant about how the wines were made, but he only cared if he got it right, so she replied politely "no, and no". I thought that might shut him up, but unfortunately not.

The next three we were told are the same location, same year, but different quality. I got to as much as it might be a pinot noir, but a cold one, was it Burgundy or Oregon, and the same gentleman (perhaps I shall stop calling him a "gentleman") yelled "It's Gevrey-Chambertin isn't it? 2011 isn't it?" And indeed it was. *Sigh*

I think this left the rest of us unwilling to participate in this game. I think even the lady hosting the tasting couldn't be bothered any more. I had only got to smelling the next two wines (both of which smelled delicious) which differed by age as the clue, when we were told it was Rioja Paternina Conde de los Andes Gran Reserva 1994 vs 2001. To be honest, if we're going to compare ages of two wines, I think one of them should be recent - you couldn't distinguish the colour between these wines because they were both old.

The final pair I immediately said to my friend "Bordeaux" then we both drank it. No tasting, no comparing notes, no discussing the merits of different producers (the comparative measure between the two), no calculating left- or right-bank, Medoc vs Pauillac. All excitement in the exercise was lost. no-one cared, except the knob to my left. A women on my table was still very enthusiastic, especially once she saw what the prices of the wines had been (average of £37, the cheapest being the Prosecco at £11 and the most expensive the Leoville Barton at £80).

I vowed not to return to a Sampler tasting, because I was worried if I went back and encountered this type of experience again it would sadden me. It's not fair on people who want to have fun with wine, to enjoy wine, to learn about how method, quality, age, and producers affect the taste of the wine. The Sampler is encouraging for all levels of wine experience, but if they can't control the few to protect the masses, I'd rather go somewhere else. Having said that, I can't stay away - they have a tasting coming up which will showcase The Scholium Project, a very innovative concept for the wine world, and I must go. Maybe I'll see you there, but please don't be a knob.

Read about the Scholium project here

Chateau Poujeaux Moulis en Medoc 2008

I tasted this wine and got as close as guessing it as close as Medoc. Amazing! But what's more amazing is the variety of aromas and flavours, check it out...

Appearance: clear, deep garnet with tawny rim indicating age, thick legs indicating high alcohol or sweetness.

Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing.

Aromas: blackcurrant, blueberry, black cherry, baked plum, vanilla, rum and raisin ice cream, clove, forest floor. Distinctive sherry aroma indicating oxidation.

Palate: quite watery on front of mouth indicating age, dry, medium acidity, high tannin, med+ alcohol, med+ body, med- intensity, med length.

Flavours: plum, blackcurrant, black cherry, jam, raisin, black olive, liquorice, black pepper, charred wood, resin, hot Tarmac.

Quality: very good, drink now not for further ageing because it doesn't have enough fruit to develop further, high priced.

Identity: Bordeaux, left bank, Medoc, containing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a tiny bit of Petit Verdot. At least 3yrs old.

BOOM!! I got it so right. Only thing I could have got more right bar the Chateau which I could not have guessed (!) was that it is actually 6yrs old.

I am awesome!

What is this wine? Another blind tasting that I got wrong.

OK, I've lost my touch, I need to learn more to get a good handle on blind tasting for my WSET Advanced course. Exam in less than two months. Getting a lot of practice in.

Can you guess?
Appearance: light, ruby,clear
Nose: clean, medium intensity, medium legs, developing
Aromas: Blackcurrant, cedar, plum, cherry
Mouth: Medium intensity, medium acidity, low tannin, dry, medium body, high alcohol
Flavours: cherry, plum, strawberry, blackcurrant fruitella
Quality: inexpensive, acceptable quality, short length

I have to say its disappointing on the palate, a bit wet, weak... although it gets better when you put some air to it... and even better when you put an apple pie in the oven (I thought I was getting some burnt caramel and cinnamon notes, but alas that was the pie that my husband is cooking).

I couldn't figure it out. I was given the option of pinotage, merlot, zinfandel.  I couldn't figure it out. None of them fit (from what I knew). I'm guessing from that you'll know if you've passed your WSET Advanced or work in wine.  But I think it also goes to show, you have to taste a hell of a lot of wines to get rid of preconceptions.

If you haven't figured it out (or if you have), post on here and I'll reveal.

Practice for WSET 3 - blind tasting

Ok it's a new week and I have another wine to try blind...

Appearance: clear, medium intensity, lemon yellow, low alcohol/sugar.

Nose: clean, pronounced, developing.

Aromas: green apple, gooseberry, grapefruit, pineapple.

At this point I thought Sauvignon Blanc, so looked for green tinge and passion fruit and lime but couldn't find it...

Palate: dry, med+ acidity, med- alcohol, light body, med+ intensity, refreshing, delicate, med+ finish.

Flavour: lemon juice, grapefruit flesh, lemon peel, gooseberry, white pepper.

Quality: good, drink now not for ageing, mid-priced.

Identity: Italian? Normally they're light intensity but maybe it's Soave, I read that has a bit more to it, but I haven't tried that in a while so couldn't really say... Eden valley Riesling? That's quite fresh right? But I'm coming back to France... It's not Sav Blanc, could it be cheap Chablis?

No. Dammit. It's Pouilly Fume!! Argh!! I need to learn about Pouilly Fume, what makes it different from other Sav Blanc and why did I dismiss it? Is there a trick/ knack/ cheat sheet? 

Any tips welcome!