I’m designing a tasting for our local wine club and wanted to feature wines made by winemakers with a distinct vision and philosophy. I thought it might be fun to pair them against wines that are soulless, industrial, but just as expensive. So, I’m looking for suggestions for wines that are made by committee or focus group with consistency and control via designer yeast, mega purple, additives, etc. that can match in pairs with the wines listed below.
Hopefully these manufactured wines will feature cool labels with animals, celebrities, or attitude (Prisoner!). But to make it fair, the comparison wines have to cost in the ballpark of the individual winemaker’s wines, so a poor QPR is expected. Fruit bombs, heavy vanilla, and over extraction are welcome.
Here’s what I’m thinking so far for the line-up
Pinot noir: Dehlinger Goldridge Pinot (~$50)
Cabernet: Matthiasson Cabernet (~$70): Pair against Caymus? Beringer?
Cote du Rhone/Syrah: Clape Vin des Amis (~$50)
Bordeaux: Jauguret (~$90)
Zinfandel: Carlisle Papera Ranch (~$40)
Rose: Pibarnon Bandol Rose (~$33)
Champagne: L’Aubry Fils Champagne Ivoire et Ebene (~$50): Pair against Veuve Cliquot?
Caymus is a good bet.
Maybe Mer Soleil for Pinot.
Monbousquet for Bordeaux.
Veuve Clicquot is fine. It’s just normally overpriced and eschewed because it got popular with regular folk. I’ve found more generic bottles like Imperial from Moet Chandon to be worse values usually. Tough call here unless you want to go big for Ace of Spades.
Lots of choices for Chard. Rombauer obviously fun. Or even something like Mer Soleil.
Mikey, props for putting together a tasting, not enough people around who graciously invest their time to diligently to put together an evening.
Can’t wait to hear how this tasting turns out!
I hope you taste blind, but if so try to avoid publicly shunning your wine club members who prefer the “soulless, industrial, over-oaked, fruit bomb, low-QPR” wines to those you’ve deemed better.
Only wine I’ve had recently that imo fits your profile is the Meiomi Pinot Noir, but that doesn’t match up price-wise with your Dehlinger.
I’d be careful not to present it in quite such blunt terms as spoofed vs. unspoofed or philosophical vs. soulless, but rather I’d suggest big scale vs. small scale and perhaps for a bit of fun/insight, instead have the matching pairs rated by attendees, not on any normal rating scale, but on a group of matched sliding scales e.g.
polished _ _ _ _ _ unpolished
Cerebral _ _ _ _ _ hedonistic
safe _ _ _ _ _ challenging
simple _ _ _ _ _ complex
so if someone thought it highly polished, they might put an x in the left most space. I reckon 4-5 such scales might work well and might especially appeal to people who are relatively new to wine tasting, who might appreciate ‘multiple choice’ type choices.
ending with a simple choice for them between ‘small scale’ / ‘large scale’ for that pair (if you enjoy a little friendly competition)
This recognises that it’s not as simple as industrial v. artisan, but allows the group to see what they think, simply from the wine in the glass. It also avoids attendees feeling like they are merely passengers in a pre-ordained outcome, or worse, being tested on how worthy their palates are
I’d thus shift it subtly by comparing fancy big brand wines vs. more niche operations, so for instance on the CdR/Syrah you could choose Jaboulet or Chapoutier to face off against Clape (but if still set on the original intention, then a Penfolds Bin 28)
For riesling I’d suggest Loosen at an equivalent price point
I can’t comment on the US wines, but would agree with your suggestion on Veuve - my experiences (albeit a little dated now) have been massively underwhelming.
Veuve also got a bad reputation because it went through a period of very low quality in the 90s up until some time I don’t recall. While I’ve heard from trusted sources that it recovered a while ago my mental/emotional associations are still from that period.
Lots of soulless Zins out there: 7 deadly Zins, etc., but I can’t think of any going for as much as $40. Most of what I see at that price point is from the best producers (including Carlisle,
Turley, Bedrock, etc.)
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Ian. I think you’re getting closer to what I intended. I love the idea of your sliding scales. I’ve been thinking about craftsmanship in wine and what kind of product results from an individualistic, small scale approach vs. what can be made consistently on a larger scale. It’s the difference, I guess, between buying paintings from little known artists and buying prints from major ones.
It’s probably not going to be a pre-ordained outcome. The individual wines will have their quirks and imperfections, whereas the large scale wines will have immediate taste appeal. My guess is that my wine club friends would strongly prefer Caymus to Matthiasson both blinded and unblinded. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case for most of the wines, except for Veuve. But that’s okay and not a judgment on palate. There’s a reason why large scale wines are large scale: They’re literally massively appealing. If anything, I think the wine geek palate is the one that’s abnormal.
And I think basic Moët has improved. Just subjective observations from a couple of dinners where it was poured as aperitif and my low expectations were exceeded.
To me the artisanal / industrial split is the most interesting. Would love to hear the results.
The components listed above… I’m not sure how they will map to the artisanal factor.
Yeah, it’s really not bad these days. I don’t drink it at home, but I wouldn’t turn down a glass. Moët Imperial, on the other hand, is downright unpleasant to me. There are much cheaper Cavas and Proseccos that I’d rather drink.
Many of the higher priced wines from Ste. Michelle fit the bill. Most are terrible QPRs and not much a step up from the Indian Wells line of wines you can buy at Costco.
A bit off topic, but just want to add that the higher end Beringer offerings really are quality wines, made by a wine maker from the Beringer family. They get a bad wrap because of their super commercialized lower end offerings, but the higher end stuff is great.
But that’s okay and not a judgment on palate. There’s a reason why large scale wines are large scale: They’re literally massively appealing. If anything, I think the wine geek palate is the one that’s abnormal.