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.
Without question, the greatest of all southern Rhône appellations is Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A large, hot growing area, the wines...
January’s wine tasting continued our trend of rich, high alcohol wines with the Zinfandel Battle. Bearing no resemblance...
Like the more famous Shiraz, the wines of Australia made from the Grenache grape are often uninhibited, ostentatious, and show...
One would get very few arguments about Napa Valley’s greatness as one of the top two places in the wine world to grow the...
The October wine tasting takes us back to Bordeaux, but this time into its reds. Among the many Bordeaux appellations, St. Emilion...
The red wines of the Bordeaux region of France never have to worry about their white co-stars getting too much applause. The...
What Sarah thought was the “Viognier Battle” was actually a surprise birthday dinner, with her as the guest of honor. ...
When the mercury rises in the summer months, I enjoy a good Hefeweizen for their clean, bright and thirst quenching qualities. ...
I am an enthusiast of nearly all of the world’s Sauvignon Blancs, but if forced to pick my favorites, one would be those...
This month’s tasting has the potential to be the most bitterly divisive ever, as we pit one cheap, probably mass-produced...
The 2002 vintage in Burgundy is being praised as perhaps the best of the past 10 years. Burgundy producers have flaunted that...
Amarone is one of the world’s most distinctive wines. Made in the northern Italian area around Valpolicella, the grapes...
Among the sweet wines in the world, port is one of the most revered. Made in the remote, rugged Douro river valley of Portugal,...
Along with the McClaren Vale, the Barossa Valley is considered one of the top areas in Australia for producing world-class wines...
Grown in the Veneto region of Italy, the grape named Prosecco (now know as Glera) is responsible for bubbly wines that are fresh,...
Long ago, the Malbec grape thrived as a part the red blends of Bordeaux, France. These days, the grape is nearing extinction...
In the Piedmont region of Italy, the undisputed king of wine grapes is called Nebbiolo. The best south-facing slopes of winegrowing...
Overall, the wines presented were very diverse, from four different countries, and as many different vintages. With a couple...
Champagne, like most French wines, refers to both a type of wine and a place. The region of Champagne surrounds the towns of...
The area called Chablis is the most northern part of the Burgundy region of France. Like most white Burgundy wines, it is made...
For centuries, the area of Spain called Rioja has been known as a leader in producing high quality wine from the Tempranillo grape. ...
Growers of the pinot noir grape often use terms like “frustrating” and “fickle” to describe the difficulty...
The Clash Of The Cabernet Based Blends consisted of wines mainly of Cabernet Sauvignon (at least 50% of the blend, but less than...
This was our seminal tasting. No tasting notes were taken, but the seeds of monthly vinous fun were sown.
Best of tasting: Castello...