Virtual
Tasted Thursday, February 18, 2021 by AllRed with 175 views
TCWC hosted another virtual tasting, this time with six very high end wines featuring Rhône varieties. This was not a cheap tasting but we felt it was a good opportunity to try some wines that we'd likely never taste otherwise, and so away we went. Our samples were delivered Wednesday, so I assume once again these had to have been opened/prepped by TCWC staff Tuesday.
We enjoy tasting blind and so as we did before the last TCWC tasting, we started a little early and had a single blind tasting in order to find our favorites without label bias and hopefully identify the wines behind the bag. As the samples were pulled from the box the label was turned away from me so that I could not see what I was pulling. The samples were mixed around a bit and then I took a strip of brown grocery bag paper and hid the labels. Labeled A through F, we poured the samples and began our tasting. Due to our work schedules we only had about thirty minutes to spend with these before the Zoom event began.
As usual, always humbling, and as often happens, Domino beat me correctly guessing two of the six. I got one of the six. It just goes to show how difficult blind tasting can be. When you have six glasses in front of you and know the six wines and still only guess one or two correctly...frustrating.
Silas, Gerard and Simon from TCWC once again hosted the group on Zoom. Always informative and insightful, our hosts fought through some technological issues to host a great event.
It was never the intention of our hosts to have the wines compete against one another in the flights, but merely to showcase the wines. I think the flights were done rather well, ultimately, and have no complaints about how these were presented.
Thanks again to TCWC's team for putting on another fun event.
2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache ♀ 94 Points
USA, California, Central Coast
Blind. Lighter garnet/crimson color. Notes of red berry fruit, spice, cherry and raspberry with a nice herbal overtone. Softer tannins. Flavors of red fruit and warm spices with nice underlying avidity. Balanced.
My #2 (guessed Prefert)
Domino’s #3 (Cayuse)
2nd overall, 5 pts
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2011 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Blind. Light crimson red color with an even lighter meniscus. Looks like the oldest in the flight based on color alone, so perhaps the Mouline? A tobacco note gives way to something troubling- it’s not the full blown cardboard/moldy basement, but there’s something lurking there that I don’t like. What does TCA-sensitive Domino say? “Yeah I noticed that but I’m not sure.” The palate has some tannic heft but also red fruit and iron.
As TCA usually gets worse as the wine sits, we’ll set this aside for now and hope for improvement. We both guessed Guigal here.
My #6, Domino’s #5
6th overall, 11 pts
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2014 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 94 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Blind. Dark crimson color. Aromas of clay, black fruit, something a bit wild/feral, with background tapenade and herbal, almost garrigue-like qualities. Wonderful complexity and nuance. Medium- to full-bodied with dark fruit, pine, tapenade, herb and spice flavors. Has some tannin to integrate. This has power, depth and balance. Gorgeous. 94-95 pts.
I kept going back and forth here- Chave to Cayuse to Chave to Cayuse to Chave to, finally, Colgin. Domino thought this might have been the CndP due to the garrigue-like notes that kept poking through.
My #1, Domino's #2
1st overall, 3 pts
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2016 Colgin Syrah IX Estate 93 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Blind. Inky opaque color- the darkest in the lineup. Black fruit, pepper, spice and blue fruit notes. Firm tannin. Big and juicy- lots of nicely ripened fruit. Sweet and big, but done well in the style. 93+ pts.
My #3 (guessed SQN)
Domino's #6 (guessed Colgin, securing her 2nd correct guess for the win)
5th overall, 9 pts
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2018 Cayuse Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard 90 Points
USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
Blind. Light crimson red color. Pine and red berry fruit notes with weedy, vegetal undertones (brettanomyces). Flavors of tar, red and black fruit with decent underlying acidity.
I initially guessed Cayuse as Baron's wines tend to be a bit bretty, but as I changed my guesses elsewhere I had to change this as well and settled on the CndP.
My #5, Domino's #1 (guessed Chave)
3rd overall, 6 pts
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2017 Domaine Saint Préfert Châteauneuf-du-Pape Collection Charles Giraud 92 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Blind. Initial note of dried hay/straw, along with red berry fruit. One of the lighter wines in the lineup. Red berry fruit dominates the palate. Nicely balanced; good underlying acidity. In my mind this had to be one of the old world wines and having thought I found the CndP and Guigal, this had to be the Chave.
My #4, domino's #4 (guessed SQN)
4th overall, 8 pts
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