A few weeks ago, I took a turn hosting a blind Zoom tasting with three others, pouring wines into 5 oz screw top bottles for the others in the afternoon and then having the tasting that evening. Since I had 10 ounces for myself, I was able to retaste most of these the next night.
The theme, to the extent there was one, was to put one expensive and one pretty moderately priced wine into a two wine flight.
In order, four flights of two wines each:
First Flight:
2007 Huet Le Mont Sec. Pale yellow, perfect condition. Tart pineapple, orange and lemon, pears, green apple, limestone, orange peel and white spice on the finish. Seamlessly put together, all things in great balance, a beauty.
The three guesses were 2014 Puligny, young Chablis, lean style new world chard.
2017 Didier Dagueneau Pur Sang. Very light color. Lean grapefruit, light grassiness, lemon. Some nice density to it, pretty restrained and balanced, very clean overall. Contrary to the modest amount I know about DD, this was much more varietally typical sauvignon blanc than I probably expected. It was very good, but kind of ordinary good rather than something special. Revisiting this on day two, the wine was far more distinctive and interesting, with a beam of salty mineral and some earthiness.
The three guesses were Sancerre x 2, New Zealand.
All three preferred the Le Mont.
Second Flight:
1998 Faiveley Clos de Beze. Nose of old furniture, cloves, dark tobacco leaf. This was long on aged character, with some balsam, plum, tart black cherry, grippy mineral, leather, a bit of burnt sugar. Pretty interesting in a old way on the nose, but kind of tough and stern on the palate, with a tannic drying finish. A rustic old world wine, which probably was better 5-10 years ago if it had more fruit then, but I’m not really sure. It didn’t get any better on day two.
Due to the tannic nature, the guesses were all Barolo or Barbaresco, early 2000s.
2007 Joseph Swan Pinot Noir Trenton Estate. Sweet red cherry, burnt sugar, pine. In a good place, maybe late maturity for a wine from this riper vintage. Not highly complex, but very tasty and enjoyable, with juicy orange acids on the finish.
Guesses were Barbaresco, Brunello x 2. I think probably influenced by the guesses on the Faiveley and thinking the two would be paired that way.
All three preferred the Swan, which was very enthusiastically received.
Third Flight:
2003 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sonoma Mountain. Sweet dark fruit, sweet tobacco, cocoa, mild tannins, leather, menthol. Kind of old world in flavors, but with a little sweeter fruit and more roundness in a new world way. Really just delicious and at a perfect age.
2003 Pavie St. Emilion. I decanted this for about 3 hours, but it really didn’t seem in a very good place. Black fruit, some charred flavors, nose pretty muted. Some vanilla and unsweetened cocoa. Lots of tannin. Not very well integrated or particularly enjoyable. On day two, this showed much better and was good, more purple berry and open knit, if still not anywhere near a level to match the price tag.
All three preferred the Laurel Glen by a lot.
Fourth Flight:
2005 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. This had lovely sweet fruit, rocky hints to it, tobacco, coffee, dried fig. Very balanced, delicious, at a perfect age. I’ve had this several times in the last few years, and it’s really a lovely, ageworthy wine with quality well above its price tag, and which combines classical styling and balance with cleanliness and good fruit.
Guesses were early 2000s St Emilion, 2004 Rioja, and old style California cab 20+ years old.
2015 Sine Qua Non Syrah Trouver l’Arene. Decanted for three hours, and it needed far longer. Giant black and purple fruit, olives, vanilla, lots of sweet oak, huge concentration. Impressive if not really all together yet. This dramatically improved to day two, and was really very delicious in its sort of way at that stage, with the fruit shining through and the wine more open and friendly.
Guesses were 07 Napa cult cab, SQN syrah, cult cab.
I don’t seem to have notes of which wine was preferred – I think the LVD was, but I’m not 100% on that.
WOTN: The votes for WOTN (which came at the end of the evening, with all the wines revealed at the end of their flight) were two for the Swan, one for the Laurel Glen. My vote was the Huet.
In the three flights where I have notes, the far less expensive wine was the clear favorite. I think the Dagueneau, Pavie and SQN improved significantly on day two, but I still think Huet and Laurel Glen at least were just better wines.
Thanks for reading.