In March of 2003, we held the sixth of an
ongoing series of wine tasting events. We started with a small group of just six couples
interested in wine but with varying levels of wine knowledge -- it was more
important that we would have fun that really be able to identify the wines. The group was
formed with the following guidelines:
Two books that I've used to guide our tasting efforts are:
We will have a blind tasting and casual dinner roughly every
other month so that we rotate through the entire group once a year. The host couple
may, at their discretion, invite more people to join the fun. The evening's host selects the theme for the evening such as:
"Napa Cabernet under $50", "Single vineyard Pinot Noir from Oregon", "'Second
wines' of Bordeaux", "Australian Shiraz over $30", or whatever. Each couple
brings one bottle that fits the theme. The labels are hidden with paper
bags so that this becomes a blind tasting. Everyone tastes each wine before
dinner and selects their top three wines so we can have a consensus favorite. At dinner, we can finish the tasting wines or raid the host's cellar assuming,
of course, that the host consents. And we should
have fun doing this.
In this gathering, our host chose red wines of Washington
State as the overall theme. Given that we live in Seattle, this gave us a bunch
of choices. Washington State has historically been dominated by two grapes
(cabernet sauvignon and merlot) that make the majority of red wines on the
eastern part of the state although, in the last five years, a huge amount of
syrah has been planted. Indeed our wines for this tasting were almost all
cabernets, or wines dominated by cabernet, in addition to a couple of bottles of
syrah.
The wines were opened roughly thirty minutes before tasting
and were not decanted. The wines were tasted blind. We gave each member of the
party a scorecard so that they could
make notes on what they thought of each wine. Our scorecard will be simplified
for the next tasting; although I really like this format, it was clear from the
partial notes on the completed forms that I collected that it was probably a bit
too complex for most people to follow.
After the tasting, we also asked everyone to list
their favorites. The table below
lists the wines in order of the consensus favorites. This was a fairly
consistent set of results as four bottles received 85% of the votes for
favorites.
Winery
Varietal
Vintage
Favorite
'Mentions'
Scores
Consensus Comments
Betz Family Cellars
'Pere de Familie'
Cabernet
2000
10
91 (Tanzer)
Best of tasting, consensus favorite. Good balance, long
finish. Opened up and got more complex with time.
Cayuse Vineyards
'Walla Walla Cuvee'
Syrah
1998
7
92 (Wine Spectator)
Lots of berries and fruit in this wine with a little bit
of pepper and spice. Long finish.
Leonetti
Cabernet
1995
5
89 (Wine Advocate)
Lively wine, with lots of acidity and tannins. It's
owners, unabashedly, were nearly orgasmic.
L'Ecole 41
Cabernet
1999
5
92 (Wine Spectator)
Another classic wine, well, balanced. Probably one of the
best values of the tasting.
Andrew Will
'Ciel de Cheval'
Cabernet
2000
2
Classic, elegant with balanced tannins. This was my best
of tasting but the rest of the group didn't quite put it there.
Grgich Hills
Cabernet
1992
2
Chewy, fruity wine with some spice. Right at its peak.
For me, tied as best of tasting.
Quilceda Creek
Cabernet
1999
1
97 (Wine Advocate)
There was something bland about this wine. With one
exception, it never clicked with the group. This one may have been corked.
Pepper Bridge
Cabernet
2000
1
Lots of fruit and berries, even a bit jammy.
Betz Family Cellars
'Pere de Familie'
Cabernet
2000
91 (Tanzer)
Same as the winner but it didn't garner a single vote.
Either everyone lumped their votes with the winner or palate fatigue had set
in since this was the last of eleven wines.
DeLille Cellars
'Chaleur Estate'
Meritage
1992
90 (Parker)
Very smooth, classic but probably a bit past its prime as
it was no longer fruit-forward.
Spring Valley
'Gina Lee'
Syrah
2000
90 (Wine Spectator)
Finish was of 'eau de bubble gum'. Seriously, we believe
that this one was corked too.
Overall, in a bit of a surprise,
Betz Family Winery
came out on top. Although I didn't bring the Betz, it has been a wine that I've
enjoyed ever since I volunteered one day to bottle wines and found myself
putting capsules on the Clos de Betz. We've been buying a case or so every year
since. In terms of the tasting, it was the fourth wine we tasted and so it may
have benefited from being the first classic wine we tasted and before people's
palates became jaded. Although a bit of surprise, the Cayuse Vineyards
syrah also scored very well -- perhaps because it was fruity and lively. The
Leonetti also showed well.
Following the tasting, we sat down to dinner with the
remaining wine from the tasting. The dinner was coordinated to complement the
red wines.
Dinner Menu
Appetizers, served with champagne or white wine:
Crostini with roasted apples
Roasted mushrooms filled with crab
Soup: Cream of Asparagus
Main Course
Rack of lamb
Mixed green vegetables
Dessert: Apple pie
Next tasting - Several couples are arm wrestling to host the
next one. Stay tuned.
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