QUICK PAIRING QUESTION: 5 Wine Flight

I have a quick question -

I consult for a wine shop that does a flight of five wines at the wine bar every Friday night -

I am a bit perplexed over the order the first three whites should be -

Here is what is being poured - no food - just a quick flight for the friday night crowd -

We are finishing with two reds from Washington State - but, they are showing a Fino Sherry tonight and I just can’t figure out whether I should start or finish the white flight with it -

Here is how I was going to do it -

  1. 2014 SAUVIGNON BLANC (Santa Ynez Appellation - no oak)

  2. 2013 SEMILLON (L’ecole #41 - Barrel fermented)

  3. FINO SHERRY (A fresh one, chilled)

Then the two reds

Would you do it any differently? Would you start out with the Fino?

My only reasoning for finishing with the Fino is weight and alcohol -

I

depending on the reds I might even do the Fino at the end of them all.

I was thinking that too Kirk - but when these guys get busy, they have customers asking for wine #5 that still have a little red wine in their glass - and I really wanted to spotlight the Fino - such a great summer sipper when chilled - and I am afraid some might think it’s just a dry dessert wine -

I’d go in between the whites and reds but suggest a rinse of the glass after the Sherry.

I would start with the Fino. It will be the most delicately flavored and certainly the driest. It may come off as thin and bitter after the two whites.

It’s the Wisdom & Warter Fino -which is a little softer than most Finos - but your answer James is the other voice in my head saying to lead off with it - mainly because of that slight saltyness/saline that pokes through - I’m now leaning towards opening with it - the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc that would come next is full of acid and fresh fruit -

+1

Interesting. I would have thought about ending the tasting with the sweetest drink which I would assume to be the sherry.

Also, I’ve done many pinot tastings and at Merry Edwards we actually ended with the sauvignon blanc due to the acidity in the wine. The pinots was sandwiched with a Chardonnay and SB. Any thoughts on finishing with a SB before dessert wines?

I

Once that Fino has been in their glass, every wine afterward (at least the next 2 wines) will smell strongly of Sherry. Even a water or wine rinse doesn’t get it out completely. Fino is one of the most difficult wines to put into a tasting lineup. I think there is no correct answer unless you can get everyone a new glass after the Fino, which is almost never reasonable.

Fino first. It is certainly the driest. Saline and savory, it’ll show poorly after the other wines.
Sherry has traditioinally been the beginning drink at dinner.

We are dealing with many inexperienced wine drinkers with these flights -

So, they started out with the Fino first, and with the majority of the people not liking the wine (lots of strange looks) it didn’t bode well for the next two wines - even with a rinse after -

I moved it to #3 after the first two whites - and it showed much, much better. And it was followed by a lightly chilled Finger Lakes Blaufrankisch - which turned out to be the perfect followup -

My whole purpose of this exercise is to sell wine for the retail shop/wine bar, so the bottom line was which wine sold the best. And it turned out to be the Blaufrankisch.

Thanks for all the input -