WSET blinds

Chicago, IL
Tasted Monday, May 15, 2017 - Sunday, June 11, 2017 by acyso with 432 views

Flight 1 - 5/15/2017 (6 Notes)

  • 2014 Trimbach Pinot Blanc 85 Points

    France, Alsace

    (5/15/2017)

    There's a touch of sweetness from the fruit, but this is clearly a dry wine. Not much Alsatian waxiness or oiliness here. There's a nice bit of acidity here as well that gives this freshness, but all in all, this is a fairly light wine that isn't too hard to drink but isn't too profound either.

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  • 2013 Domaine Monier Perréol St. Joseph 88 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    (5/15/2017)

    There's a moderate amount of black fruit on the nose, with a slight bit of earth and olive. Not too meaty or profound, this is a lighter example of Northern Rhone. The palate shows a touch of blood, but is otherwise again quite light and veers towards the red fruit more than black. The tannins are still grainy at this point.

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  • 2013 Château La Mission Haut-Brion La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion 80 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (5/15/2017)

    A deeply underwhelming wine, especially from a pedigree such as this. Certainly lends credence to my belief that Bordelais second wines are a waste of time; sad that that belief is true up to the upper echelons. In any case, this is a boring wine, draped with tons of oak and devoid of any proper fruit material to balance it out. Exceedingly tannic with the alcohol poking out too.

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  • 2013 Falesco Merlot Tellus 70 Points

    Italy, Umbria

    (5/15/2017)

    Served double blind in a flight of three of the same grape. The nose has an odd pine-resin quality to it, as well as some black fruit. The palate is soft and mostly shapeless, and has a bit of an unpleasant cough-syrup sweetness, without the medicinal flavours: this tastes confected. No structure and no particularly identifiable markers made me guess a cheaper merlot.

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  • 2014 Charles Smith Merlot The Velvet Devil 60 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    (5/15/2017)

    Served double blind, in a flight of three of the same grape. The nose shows a bit of alcohol, as well as a sickly bit of sweetness that manages to waft up as well. The palate has no structure at all; this is a formless and shapeless. The grape here had no identifiable characteristics, and I guessed cheap supermarket merlot.

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  • 2012 Château Barde-Haut 70 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    (5/15/2017)

    Served double blind, in a flight of three of the same grape. There's a clear note of French oak and vanilla on the nose of this, along with a touch of methol and some cherry cough syrup. Tannic and fleshy, without any acidity to bind things together. This is one of those messy wines that feel overripe and underripe at the same time. Structureless. I guessed right bank based off of the French oak, so I suppose this does show a sense of place, inasmuch as overoaked merlot defines St. Emilion.

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Flight 2 - 6/1/2017 (6 Notes)

  • 2011 Gramercy Cellars Syrah SJR Vineyard 85 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

    (6/1/2017)

    This was a little disappointing -- I had somehow expected a wine that was a little more dense. To be sure, there is a lovely light Northern Rhone character to this, and I couldn't fault anyone for describing this as a St. Joseph or Crozes. A bit thin on the palate, this feels a little on the underripe side. A nice bit of salinity and olive character here as well.

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  • 2012 Qupé Syrah 85 Points

    USA, California, Central Coast

    (6/1/2017)

    As far as California syrah goes, this is a fairly good example. It certainly has the ripeness you would expect, with a nice note of grilled meat and some subtle black pepper on the nose. The palate shows a moderate amount of acidity, which is very nice, given the denser black fruit here. Again, not the most exciting wine, but good for what it is, and I'm generally not even a fan of the stuff.

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  • 2011 Nine Stones Shiraz Hilltops 85 Points

    Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Hilltops

    (6/1/2017)

    This was a real surprise -- not thick and heavy and black, but a fairly elegant and approachable shiraz. There's a touch of grilled meat on the nose, and a little bit of high-toned greenness here. Good acidity and lighter tannins, but the alcohol does poke out.

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  • 2015 Arianna Occhipinti SP68 Nero d'Avola e Frappato 70 Points

    Italy, Sicily, Terre Siciliane

    (6/1/2017)

    Served double blind in a flight where it was known all the wines were from the same country. Fizzy and carbonic, this had a real hipster quality to it. The fruit seemed a little stewy and I thought I picked up some stinky brett on the nose at first. Really not a fan of this -- given that I had concluded that the country was Italy, I thought this was something like a weird dolcetto or barbera.

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  • 2013 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 88 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    (6/1/2017)

    Served double blind in a flight where it was known all the wines were from the same country. Easily picked out as lower-tier nebbiolo: whether it was Langhe or Barbaresco, I wasn't sure. The nose shows a nice red fruit and floral quality, and the palate has a juicy red-fruitedness. Fairly crystalline, the tannins did throw me around for a second, as they aren't as dense as you'd expect for a nebbiolo this young. Fairly good, but I think I enjoyed the 2012 version a little more last year.

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  • 2003 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbera d'Asti Superiore (Bionzo) Flawed

    Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti Superiore

    (6/1/2017)

    Served double blind in a flight where it was known all the wines were from the same country. Stewed and heat-damaged. There was a moment where I thought this could have been a really shitty ripasso, given the stewy and cloying fruit here. But at the end of the day (and after learning the provenance), I'm pretty certain this was actually heat-damaged.

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Flight 3 - 6/11/2017 (6 Notes)

  • 2015 Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg 88 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal

    (6/11/2017)

    Screwcap. A solid, if not entirely inspiring dry riesling. The nose shows a bit of crisp minerality and grassy herbaceousness (though nowhere at the level of a Gruener Veltliner). The palate is medium bodied, with plenty of the expected crispness. Good acidity and mineral cut, but this certainly doesn't quite have the stuffing that would allow it to age too much.

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  • 2015 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett #2 90 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    (6/11/2017)

    #02-16, 7.5% abv. The nose on this showed a little more sponti than I would expect for a Willi Schaefer -- in fact, there was something more like the stereotypical Pruem of old. All that aside, there is a nice honeyed touch, that seems to indicate that there's going to be a nice touch of sweetness on the palate, but in fact, that sweetness also isn't as potent as I remember it being. If anything, perhaps the acidic structure here pokes out a little too much. Perhaps this is starting to enter its dumb phase?

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  • 2015 Pewsey Vale Vineyard Eden Valley Riesling 85 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

    (6/11/2017)

    Screwcap. The nose shows quite a bit of tart citrus, as well as a nice touch of minerality. Definitely not Mosel, there's something quite unique about the nose here that I quite enjoyed. However, the palate was a lot thinner than I expected (for whatever reason, and likely wrongly, I somehow expected a bit of a riper wine). This is crisp and light, but lacks on the density, although there is definitely some good minerality here.

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  • 2015 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese 93 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    (6/11/2017)

    #16-16, 7.5% abv. Served double blind. Clearly riesling, and either a riper Spaetlese or a lighter Auslese, from either 2015 or 2010, since I thought this had that brilliant acidic structure as well; this seemed about as Pruem as could be for me, too (I actually called the producer on this one). There's a fair bit of sweetness here, and a lovely vein of that classic Mosel green apple. Crisp and mineral, and absolutely delicious.

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  • 2014 Giant Steps Chardonnay Sexton Vineyard 90 Points

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    (6/11/2017)

    Served double blind. Deeply reductive nose, this has a very classic white Burgundian style that I adore. There's a bit of white fruit on the nose and palate as well, and the fruit seems to tilt towards a bit of a slightly sweeter style. The flinty reduction also continues from the nose onto the palate, but this wine seems a little bitter towards the end. I did end up guessing white Burgundy -- should have picked up on the slightly sweeter fruit profile here.

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  • 2014 Ridge Three Valleys 85 Points

    USA, California, Sonoma County

    (6/11/2017)

    Served double blind. The nose on this had a sweet, bubbly fruit personality that I somewhat associate with very young red wines. I didn't really know what to make of the palate either, as it seemed to have a bit of the stemminess that I associate with younger cabernet franc... so I called a super juicy young Loire cab franc on this. Whoops.

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