Mike on Mini-Tour--Blinds at Randy's Place

This was at my request—I really wanted to do a single-blind tasting, it has been a long time. Nick, Randy, Jay, Mike Evans and I sat down to do this. My huge thanks to everyone for all the brings.

BLIND #1 (Mike’s white). Herbal, almost minty. Nick makes a good catch with grass notes. Lemon tart. Zesty with a kind of gingery feel and a little bitter at the back. Quite tangy, thinks about pink grapefruit. 2 votes for old world, 2 votes for new. I chose a 2014 Italian oddball—like an Alto Adige white. Not so! 2014 Vincent Pinot Blanc Delightful reveal, I had forgotten that Mike and I had talked about me having a chance to try Vincent’s wine. We all remarked on how individual this was.

BLIND #2 (mine) . Pretty much everyone finds their way to Chard. Jay remarks he thinks he’s had something like this from me before. Nick initially got a weird set of aromatics that he associated with concrete elevage and was pretty sure on new world. Others were old world. It is old world. Ranged into Burgundy and everything from Macon through Chassagne. Jay is right–he’s had the 2014 version of this, the 2015 Meo Camuzet Bourgogne Blanc Clos St. Philibert. Even though I’d given this a day’s slow-ox, it really evolved aromatically in the glass and a lot of people liked this a ton later in the evening when we included it in the wines.

BLIND #3: (Randy’s white). I get touch of light banana. We seem to all be in Chenin. My guess was 2005. There’s an oddly bitter/clipped side to the finish and even the overall mouthfeel. The reveal is 2012 Huet Le Mont Sec. We express general concern with the ageability in the post-Noel era.

BLIND #4: (Mike’s first red): Randy gets grapey scents here. Cherries a lot for me, with spiced background. Easy-drinking, bit of Moroccan spice at the back. I did think Spanish and I was right about the grape, anyway. It’s Tempranillo, but 2016 Bookcliff Tempranillo From Colorado, definitely my first wine from that state. Not something to get extra-excited about, but far from undrinkable, found this quite pleasant.

BLIND #5: (Jay’s) Woodsy, truffley, cedar? Chocolate. Stays in your mouth and sits there. Plum and black cherry. I’ll guess 2013 and I think we’re in Grenache, probably Priorat. Nick was with me and I think most of us were in Spanish territory. We were close. 2015 Quinta da Gaivosa Douro I’d have to check the grapes.

BLIND #6: (Mike’s second red). Tomato leaf, currant, tobacco. This is fine and nice–acid pops all over the mouth. Good structure, some rhubarb for me. I say France, 1985, can’t decide between Bordeaux and Beaujolais–I haven’t had an old enough one. Oh wow. 2001 Scherrer Shale Terrace Zin This is a marvelous discovery. We all loved what this was.

BLIND #7: (Randy’s first red): Smoky, meaty, blackberry. Super-primary. A wall of tannins. A lot of wood chips. Needs decades. I say Argentinian Malbec. Hah, nice try. 2006 Roberto Voerzio Langhe Nebbiolo. Wow, is this ever tight.

BLIND #8 (Randy’s 2nd red) Roses and floral. Strawberries. Mint and cedar, Mike says. Black pepper is in evidence too. Fairly mouthcoating, fairly smooth. Jay picks up the mint as well. Chocolate mint it is for me. Do I feel contrary enough (everyone else is in Northern Rhone) to say Washington? It’s a very intricate wine, more so as it gains air in the glass. It is Northern Rhone and it is Cote Rotie. The 2003 David Duclaux Cote Rotie performed extremely well.

We had a ton of fun with this, big thanks to all participants!

Kwa Heri

Mike

You know… this was a lot of Fun! A good lineup for a Blind tasting, i.e. some interesting wines, and a few curveballs. As a whole, I don’t do a lot of Blinds, but it’s good to work that muscle from time to time in the right crowd.

Particular good to do so with Randy and Mike Evans. They are both super knowledgeable. Sounding out wines with Grammer, Evans, and Katz is a genuinely valuable exercise. This was a lovely blend between a casual event, a funny afternoon full of jokes, and some real intellectualism. Very glad to participate :slight_smile:

Mike, nice notes. It has been a while since I’ve tasted blind with people whose cellars I don’t know which added to the fun.

Sounds like it was a fun time. I love blind tastings. They are both very humbling and very surprising at what you find yourself knowing.

One minor correction, the Scherrer was the Shale Terrace.

Noted and corrected, thanks! Notes from the other events will hopefully be up tomorrow.

Mike

BLIND #7: (Randy’s first red): Smoky, meaty, blackberry. Super-primary. A wall of tannins. A lot of wood chips. Needs decades. I say Argentinian Malbec. Hah, nice try. 2006 Roberto Voerzio Langhe Nebbiolo. Wow, is this every tight.

Is this what you’d normally expect from a Nebbiolo? Sincere question, as I’d generally read that note as syrah, with the wood chips pushing me towards something that was over-oaked. My experience with Italian wines is slim and none, but the few nebbiolos I’ve had have been fairly light to medium (but tannic, as no age) with brighter, red fruit.

My memory of the Voerzio is less clear than of the other wines, in large part because the most memorable things about it were its impenetrability and wall of tannin. I honestly can’t recall what my guesses were, but I don’t think I was close. It wasn’t meaty and smoky in a Syrah way, if that makes sense.

As for Nebbiolo, it can be dark fruited and full of body, particularly in riper vintages and from more modern producers, but even though I’ve had a lot of young and modern Nebbiolo, including a lot of Voerzio, nothing about this bottle spoke to me of Nebbiolo until after its identity was revealed.

Fun event Mike. And I appreciate how you went about noting the blind aspect for each bottle which I have struggled with to come up with the best way to present the blind notes and reveal the source. That’s especially tricky after our monthly blind tasting group has had discussion and voted each wine in each flight before removing the brown bag.

Yes, Blake, that makes the reporting a bit different given your group’s process. Drew, I concur with my brother Evans. No Syrah elements, but hard to pick out as a nebbiolo too. This would be one to check back again in 10 years to see if it does pick up the telltales. Voerzio’s are among the longest to have to wait for them to come around.

I’m writing up notes now for the last blind tasting and borrowing some of your format to see how it works. It may be a few days before they’re done, but your feedback would be good to get re the format Mike.

I’m not sure how to answer, Blake, though I am of course flattered that you’d think to use anything that I’ve put to electronic paper [blush2.gif]. I basically type what I write and that’s how I write these—concentrating on aromatic and palate impressions first, tracking my thoughts and the group discussion and then reporting on the reveal and, sometimes, my/our reaction to that. Hope that helps. It’s true that these notes had a sort of sequencing—where we’d learn it’s either old world or new world and then continue our analysis from there.

Actually Mike, I was referring to your feedback AFTER I post notes and how they came across. I’m still a few days perhaps from completion them as I`m preparing to leave for Amsterdam on Monday.

Blind #5 : I picked it up from a friend who said it needed to be decanted for an hour before it would show well, but it was more like a day before it became delicious.

Good times.