Primehouse
Tasted Monday, April 28, 2008 by winefool with 799 views
A group of eight Chicago guys (mostly LdC) got together for a little friendly competition on Monday to see who deserved bragging rights for the acuity of their palate and their knowledge of wine. Ground rules were only that all the wines had to have a value of at least $100 (with some flexibility on exact number and method of measurement since a few of the wines might not have quite met the rigorous threshold). There were sixteen wines total and each had a maximum point total of 13pts (2 for country, 2 for region/state, 2 for subregion/commune, 1 for producer, 5 for varietal, and 1 for vintage) for 208 total possible points if you nailed every single wine. Winner got his dinner comped by the rest of the group and Gary brought bottle prizes for whomever brought the WOTN (me, it turns out) and a consolation prize for the lowest scorer - a nice bottle of beer!
Having done these kind of tastings a number of times in the past, I had a healthy appreciation for how difficult and humbling they are. I expected a score in the 60-70 point range to take the prize. As it turned out, I was shocked at how well several of us scored. Jim took the honors with 108 pts, Ken second with 107pts, and I was third with 106 pts. Doh! If I had put that Torbreck in Australia where it belonged, I would have won walking away!
Anyway, it was surprisngly fun with great food (though getting pricier for these) and lots of discussion and friendly ribbing. I will say that the serious focus I and other were putting on actual identification of the wines over the more usual rating and enjoyment really changed the character of the experience - not necessarily better or worse but certainly different. Discussion was less about the quality of the wines and more about the attributes and speculation (after pencils were down). Overall we had a nice diversity of wines and aside from a couple of corked examples which we still had to try to identify (how Ken nailed the 2000 Ygrec based on a corked sample is one of the great feats of the evening!) they showed very well.
At the end of the day, with a group that mostly focuses on Burgundy, only a single Pinot (and a single red bordeaux) were poured!
NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 91 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Medium full yellow color. Full nose of honey butterscotch. Big apple butterscotch with a hint of lemon curd and bright acidity on the palate. Showing more evolution than I would have expected.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue