Minneapolis Wine Club: Double Blind BYOB Event

Shari's House, Mpls, MN
Tasted Saturday, December 14, 2013 by rocknroller with 518 views

Introduction

This was a double blind tasting event. All wines were wrapped in brown paper bags, mixed, then numbered and tasted in numerical order. The goal was to identify the varietal/blend, region, and approximate age.

Flight 1 - Starter Wine - Non-Blind (1 Note)

Flight 2 - Double Blind Wines (9 Notes)

  • 2007 Hourglass Merlot Blueline 88 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Medium dark red color. Drank 1 glass blind over 1.5hrs. Decanted for 90 minutes. The nose is impressive with sweet mulberry and plum fruit, cedar, subtle earth, coffee, chocolate, vanilla. The palate again can never quite live up to the nose, medium body, oak, berry, alcohol at times, berry liqueur, medium finish. Too much overt oak especially on the back end of the palate. There may be some significant bottle variation here too as the extremes of scores would suggest. 88 to 89pts.

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  • 2008 Two Hands Cabernet Sauvignon Charlie's Patch 89 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Very dark red-purple color. Decanted for 1 hour. Drank 1 glass blind over 90 minutes. Nose shows mint, mild eucalyptus, blackberry, mild earth. The palate is medium-full bodied, oak, spicy, mint, blackberry, blackberry liqueur, graphite, average finish. 89+ to 90pts.

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  • 2003 Kaesler Shiraz The Bogan 91 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    Very dark purple color. Drank 1 glass blind over 90 minutes. Nose has a strong aroma of eucalyptus, blueberry, blackberry, blackberry liqueur, briary. The palate is full bodied, nice black and blue fruits, blueberry, blackberry, glycerin, eucalyptus, some earth, minerals, spice, and pepper. Medium plus finish.

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  • 2005 Domaine Jean Garaudet Pommard Les Noizons 90 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard

    Medium red color. PNP, drank 1 glass blind over 90 minutes. Nose is earthy, rich, ripe dark red fruits, cherry, cinnamon, lightly floral. The palate is medium bodied, earthy, cherry, medium finish. 90+pts.

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  • 2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard 94 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Medium dark red color. Popped and slow-O for 2 hours, open from start. Drank 1 glass blind over 90+ minutes. Gorgeous nose, earth and funk, perfumed, very floral, cherry, raspberry. The palate shows depth and complexity, velvety mouth feel, cherry, raspberry, complex spices, earth, minerality, silky tannins. Elegant and well balanced with a long finish. This was the finest bottle to date (over a year and a half since the last one) and a good sign that this is really approaching its peak. My and group WOTN. 93+ to 94pts.

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  • 2006 Clarendon Hills Syrah Piggott Range Vineyard 91 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon

    Purple red color. PNP, drank 1 glass blind over 90 minutes. The nose was just screaming eucalyptus, a little meatiness, some heat, black fruits. Everything on the nose was overwhelmed by the eucalyptus and it didn't change for at least an hour. Finally, and suddenly, the eucalyptus virtually blew off completely and revealed a core of lush black fruits with crème de cassis and blackberry crème brule. A fresh pour brought back the overwhelming eucalyptus. The palate was deeply concentrated, blackberry, crème de cassis, mouth coating glycerin, spice and pepper, round tannins. This drinks young and shows the potential to improve, needs significant air at this point - I would suggest 2+ hours of decant or give this 2+ years.. 90-92pts.

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  • 2008 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige 92 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

    Dark red color. Drank 1 glass blind over 60 minutes. This was earthy and funky, black cherry, mild spices on the lovely nose. The palate is medium plus bodied and has earth, black cherry, pepper, dark mixed berries, smoky, firm medium grained tannins, and a long finish. I didn't get a lot of herbal quality from this but it was surprisingly good for 2008 -- Well done! My #2 and group #2 WOTN. 92+pts.

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  • 2007 Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Clos de Sainte Catherine 89 Points

    France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Coteaux du Layon

    Medium gold color. PNP, drank 1 glass blind over 30 minutes. The nose shows apricot, pineapple, white peach, subtle florals. The palate is quite sweet, apricot, pineapple, apple, lacks supporting acid, light body, subtle spice. This is young and hopefully will take on some weight with time. 89+pts.

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  • 2011 Sutter Home Winery White Zinfandel California 70 Points

    USA, California

    This got thrown into the blind tasting as a joke. Medium pink color. Tasted a couple sips blind. Strawberry nose, sweet. Strawberry palate, very sweet, cloying. As someone noted, it is what it is, and obviously a lot people like it.

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Closing

Blind tastings are always fun, challenging, and interesting. This event was no different.

WOTN voting:
#1 WOTN: 2007 St. Innocent Justice Vineyard (3+3+3+3+3+3+3+1=19pts)
#2 WOTN: 2008 Roger Sabon CDP Cuvee Prestige (3+2+2+2+2+1+1=13pts)
#3 WOTN 2005 Domaine Jean Garaudet Pommard Les Noizons (3+2+2+1=8pt)

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