The February tasting marked the 20th year that we have been hosting these blind tastings. It took a couple more months for us to settle into the current format, but February 2004 was our first stab at comparing multiple bottles for quality without knowing what was behind the brown bag. Since this was an occasion to […]
Châteauneuf Shootout #4 Read More »
We started off 2024 with our third War of the Central Coast Pinot Noirs blind tasting, a topic we last covered in November 2017. This time, we had a unanimous winner, an occurrence that seems to be less frequent these days, with a bottle that showed some age and evolution. Everyone agreed on the best wine
War Of The Central Coast Pinot Noirs #3 Read More »
Back in May 2011, we had our first World of Syrah tasting, where we pitted six bottles of Syrah/Shiraz from around the globe against each other, with Columbia Valley in Washington coming out on top, and South Africa coming in last. Over a decade later, would we see similar results? No! This time, an intense, texturally
We decided to hit the pause button on our regular format for the November tasting, and instead challenged Ali & Andy to a cheese pairing. Each couple would bring a cheese, and each couple would find a bottle of wine to pair with each cheese, for a total of four wines. Luckily, they were more
Cheese Pairing Challenge Read More »
The last time we compared bottles of Rosso di Montalcino back in April 2015, the winner was a ripe, dark example that exhibited some oak treatment. This time, our champion had some bottle age, with less primary fruit, and was more evolved, showing more nuance and tertiary qualities. All six tasters voted for it as
Rosso di Montalcino Throwdown #2 Read More »
We have held many blind tastings where almost all the bottles are outstanding, making the results difficult to rank, but this one clearly stood out as being full of delicious, vibrant, and refined wines. None were duds. There was a clear winner at the end (and a tie for third place), but all of them
Mâconnais Matchup #2 Read More »
We rarely end these blind tastings with a feeling of disappointment. Most often, we finish the night with a sense of excitement and satisfaction that we’ve tasted some great wines and discovered something new. But this night we generally felt underwhelmed by the entries, because they lacked energy and an element of surprise. Perhaps disappointment
World Of Pinot Gris #2 Read More »
Using the same format as the September 2022 tasting, our challenge this month was to match wines with two different dishes, this time an appetizer of octopus in garlic confit with fiddleheads, then a main course of beef carbonnade with mashed potatoes. Like last time, dinner was shared with Ali & Andy, so there were only four
(mini) Pairings Battle #2 Read More »
Team Rioja for the win! The April tasting was a battle between the three top Spanish appellations for Tempranillo, with bottles representing Ribera del Duero, Rioja, and Toro. While our favorite wine turned out to be a relative value from Ribera del Duero, it was Rioja that came out on top with the most votes
Types of Tempranillo Read More »
Our first Sonoma Cabernet Clash was way back in January 2009, so the moment to revisit these was sorely overdue. For reasons lost to time, only four wines were represented in that first round, instead of the usual six. And for our second Sonoma Cabernet Clash, an eleventh-hour cancellation meant that only five wines were compared. Sonoma
Sonoma Cabernet Clash #2 Read More »