blind tastings
I have been hosting blind tastings and posting the results for over 20 years. Usually based on a theme, such as a specific appellation or category of wine, these are normally done behind paper bags to ensure a lack of price or label bias. Each taster brings a bottle of his or her choice to the gathering, based on the given criteria.
All bottles are bagged and labeled with a number, then poured randomly. Each wine is poured into a separate glass of the same shape and size. Tasters are asked to vote for their top four bottles, and scores for all tasters are added up for our results.
The theme for our blind tasting in May was “Bring A Bottle From Your Cellar.” That is, we asked our tasters to pick...
The last time we blind tasted Gigondas and Vacqueyras was mid-pandemic (October 2020), where social distancing rules prevented...
This was our first time comparing Dolcetto in our blind tasting format, which is surprising, because these wines are easy to like,...
We’ve compared bottles from Saint Emilion before (most recently in March 2020), but this time we decided to open it up and...
Our fourth comparison of wines from Amarone della Valpolicella was thoroughly enjoyable, as one would expect from this highly-regarded...
We have had Riesling featured in our blind tastings in the past, but this was our first comprehensive comparison of examples from...
This was only our third comparison of Albariño (the last was in June 2019), and while previous competitions included only Iberian...
Somewhat surprisingly, this was our first comparison of six bottles of Chenin Blanc. Paired into teams of two, we pitted Team...
A long time had passed since we last compared California Zinfandels blind (we previously tried these in December 2015). This was...
Our challenge this month was to bring a bottle of wine that would pair with filet au poivre. David decided to make his classic...
The last time we blind tasted Barolo at our monthly gathering was early in the pandemic, where due to social distancing rules...
Back in January 2020 we told our guest tasters to bring a bottle of wine that would pair well with a classic cheese fondue. It...
Our second comparison of Ribera del Duero wines resulted in something very unusual: Our preference was for bottles having older...
We admit it. We are skeptical of orange wines as a whole, since experience has taught us that more often than not, one ends up...
We are big fans of all types of Sauvignon Blanc here at davidjohnhansen.com, so it’s a treat to sample six bottles from...
The July blind tasting was slightly different than our usual format, where instead of comparing wines from the same appellation,...
May was supposed to be the month of the Domestic Rosé Battle, comparing dry, non-sparkling rosés produced anywhere in the United...
It’s time to crown Ali with the title “Brunello Queen”, because this was the third Brunello Brawl she has won...
In a departure from our usual blind tasting format, we took up Ali’s suggestion to have a sampler of wines from the venerable...
The February tasting marked the 20th year that we have been hosting these blind tastings. It took a couple more months for us...
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...
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...
We decided to hit the pause button on our regular format for the November tasting, and instead challenged Ali & Andy to a...
The last time we compared bottles of Rosso di Montalcino back in April 2015, the winner was a ripe, dark example that exhibited...