Blind tasting with the group

All wines tasted blind as always

• 2015 Stéphane et Vincent Perraud Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Selection des Cognettes Sur Lie

  France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine

  Clear, Star bright, translucent and straw with a hint of yellow in color
  
  Very delicate nose, but slightly corked... Citrus, apple, pear with a ton of minerals, like liking the sidewalk. Bone dry with H acidity. Little creaminess from the sur lie aging also.
  
  Very nice low priced Muscadet, perfect for oysters!

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• 2015 Vietti Roero Arneis

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero

  Clear wine, day bright, a pale yellow with a green tine to it.
  
  Very clean, delicate and obviously young. Lemon & Lime zest with orange and a bitter orange note. Slightly creamy, possibly lees stirring? Shows signs of melon and phenolic bitterness with slight mineral notes. M+ Acid and M+ alcohol
  
  Nice wine, blind was impossible for us to place, I took it to Italy, but that was all. Great food wine

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• 2015 Morgadío Albariño Rías Baixas

  Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas

  Bright colored with a silver gold rim. Very clean and popping fresh
  
  Ripe yellow pear, peach and tangerine. Honeysuckle and guava with some other tropical notes too. Earth is not apparent, but floral notes are there too. Touch of phenolic bitterness is there is well. Medium+ Acid and tart citrus on the palate. Moderately complex, nice wine

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• 2014 Adega Davide Rías Baixas

  Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas

  Fun just because of the weird bottle shape. Clean nose that is only moderately expressive. Green apple, lemon cantaloupe, jasmine floral notes also. Dry with medium+ acid. Interesting to see the difference with the 2 albarino tasted back to back. This had more depth of flavor, but lacked some of the pop...

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• 2013 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Fronholz

  France, Alsace

  Clean nose, but smelled, and looked much older than it was. I was guessing 7-10 years old and is only 4... Honestly with one sniff I knew this was Riesling, just obvious nose, had to taste it to see where from, but otherwise was obvious. Baked apple, yellow pear, showing signs of oxidation, much more than I would expect from a wine this age.
  
  Dry with Medium+ acid, little honey on the palate too. Great example of a Alsace Riesling, but honestly not my favorite. Has all the right flavors and is correct for the region, but I've had many others which are much more enjoyable.

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• 2014 Flora Springs Chardonnay Family Select

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Needed to blow off, there was a little funk on opening. Settled down quickly. Apple, marzipan, wet dog? Baked apple pie, bruised pear? The oak is too much for me. To be fair, I do not like oaked whites or chardonnay, so I'm not the best person to judge this wine. If you like oak chard, this is a good choice..

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• 2013 Stephane Aviron Moulin-à-Vent

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent

  So much more of a seriously beefy wine than I am used to from Beaujolais. Ruby Garnet in color with a slightly orange rim. Clean nose which is moderately expressive. Cranberry, strawberry, currants and plum on the nose. Also some garrigue, hard to pick out each individually. On the Palate this has dusty tannins that are tight. Bone dry with medium+ acid, alcohol is in check though. Blind I was firmly in the Sangiovese camp, but obviously wrong! It had so much more body and tannins than I'm used to with Beaujolais, going to pick up a few of these and see what they do as they age, drink in 3-5 years is my guess, but so tight now...

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• 2010 Castello di Querceto / Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva Flawed

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  Deep red, garnet with a slight orange rim. on opening this had a lot of stank to it, yes stank... It did blow off a little, but I believe our bottle was off. My notes do not seem to fit with any of the others so I am going to assume it was off

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• 2005 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja

  I've tasted this wine blind so many times I'm glad I finally figured out what it was. Garnet, slightly orange as well. Powerful nose, leather, blackberry, plum, currant, pomegranate and boysenberry. Oak is noticeable and has that coconut and dill you expect from classic Rioja, but it is very balanced and does not stand out. Everything is in balance, tannins, acid, alcohol. Beautiful wine

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• 2014 Flora Springs Merlot

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Garnet in color with a clean moderately expressive nose. Right off the bat the oak is showing. Red and black fruit that are kind of all over the place, plum, raspberry, cherry. Fruit taste slightly baked and dried out. M+ Tannins, M+ Acid, H alcohol. Slightly smoky and I got a hint of menthol. I thought it was a cabernet from Napa, some others though potentially an oaked Zinfandel with the fruit all over the place the way it was. Not surprised to see the Merlot, it was so plump. Not my style of wine, but honestly for people looking for that Napa Valley big red this is a good qpr...

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• 2010 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Coto de Imaz Reserva

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Ruby with a medium stain. Clean nose and moderately expressive Blue, black and red fruit, kind of all over the board. Black cherry, plum, boysenberry. Shows oak with a dill nose, so guessing American. On the palate the alcohol is slightly out of balance, taste a bit hot and almost comes off like there is a hint of residual sugar. I was guessing Zinfandel blind. Interesting to taste the 2 Rioja wines in the same line up both blind to see how different they are.

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• 2006 First Drop Shiraz Fat of the Land Seppeltsfield

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  My last bottle of this wine, been fun to taste them over the years.
  
  Black wine, honestly the darkest wine you may ever see. The fruit on this is not over top, like some would expect from Aussie Shiraz. Dark black fruits, raspberry, boysenberry and plum, also a slight meaty note with olive tapenade and rosemary. Still has plenty of life on it, wish I had more. Alcohol does come off a bit hot though, it checks in at 15.5% so I'm not surprised. Nice wine overall, but slightly out of balance.

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• 1995 Michele Castellani Recioto della Valpolicella Classico

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico

  I picked these up for next to nothing from Wine Bid so I was not expecting too much. I was pleasantly surprised.
  
  The nose is remarkably clean with notes of dates, raisins, and fig, but also cherry and blackberry. Off the nose you cannot tell this is a sweet wine, sometimes it is obvious but not here. On the palate it is full bodied, but has so much grace it remind me of the hippos ballerinas in fantasia. Alcohol is almost not noticeable, even when looking for it. Best deal on a wine I've ever gotten, without question, wish I bought everything they had. One of the taster, that is in the industry ad knows wine very well stated one of her 10 favorite wines she'd ever tried... Stunningly beautiful

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