SLC
Tasted Sunday, August 10, 2014 by cos65 with 773 views
For our August tasting we decided on a Paris 1976 Redux. Folks were instructed to bring either a California Chardonnay, a white Burgundy, a red Bordeaux or a California cabernet.
Luckily we ended up with a fairly decent mix of each. Judges included a bunch of local Texans and a few French ex-Pats... Preformed opinions were rather strong on both sides.
Wines were sent out in decanters, blind, in matched pairs: 4 sets of chardonnays followed by 7 pairs of cabs/blends.
Folks chose of favorite of each matched pair and a general score of 1-10 on each wine.
Wines were not revealed until all votes were in...
Flights 1-4 were paired chardonnay/Burgundy and Flights 5 - 11 were paired Cabernet/Bordeaux
The Group preferred the ripe Russian River Valley Chasseur over a brighter leaner Pouilly Fuisse
Again the ripe Rivers Marie trumped the leaner, somewhat lemony Chassagne
The 2005 Montelena just edged out the Puligny. Both were full of toasty oak.
The group strongly preferred the Chassagne over the Grgich, but I think the Grgich was quite elegant.
The Franciscan was a clear crowd pleaser over the fairly lean, elegant Bel Air
Where can a non-vintage US blend compete with a $500 mature Bordeaux? At a blind tasting! Palates seemed to veer fairly strongly California, with California winning 3 out of 4 chardonnay pairs and 5 out of 7 Cabernet pairs.
In most of the blind pairings, which wine was French and which was American was pretty obvious. But, not always. A 2000 Monte Bello was identified as Bordeaux by most tasters. Its side by side comparison was a 2006 Pichon Baron.
A 2004 Pavie was very forward, paired against a 2011 Newton claret which was fairly restrained.
Groups white winner was the 2005 Bruno Colin Chassagne Montrachet 1er en Remilly (and highest scoring wine overall at 8.9/10
Groups red winner was the 2006 Maybach Materium, a very Californian wine in taste and style.
I loved all the red Bordeaux (a fabulous 1996 Cheval Blanc), but these blinded American palates scored them all fairly modestly.
Our French members may suspect a conspiracy, but that's the beauty of a blind tasting.
2007 Chasseur Chardonnay Lorenzo Vineyard
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Round 1
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2008 Domaine Thibert Père et Fils Pouilly-Fuissé
France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé
Round 1
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