Cabernet Sauvignon (Blind Tasting)
Prior Lake, MN
Tasted April 8, 2017 by GoBlue2002 with 360 views
Introduction
9 cabernet sauvignons were tasted blind by a group of 11 wonderful people (and 1 other who was drinking sauv blanc :-) . A few wines were double decanted prior to the tasting, but most were opened and consumed over ~3 hours. Each taster started with a different wine and progressed through the lineup. Wines were ranked #1-9 and points added up. So a perfect score would be 11 points (1st place by all) and a terrible to all wine would be 99 points.
Flight 1 (9 notes)
Wine A.
Vegetal, earthy, heavy tannins, yet smooth. Fruit forward nose, cocoa, leather, spice. Very good.
This was my starting wine of the night, and I preferred it more when I came back to it later in the evening.
Me - 88/89, Wife - 90/91
My 5th place wine, Wife's 5th place, Group's 1st place (42 pts: 3 - 1st place, 1 - 2nd place, 1 - 2nd to last place)
Wine B.
A divisive wine - with the majority of the tasting group believing it corked and putting it in last place, whereas 2 people had it as their favorite wine!
My last place wine, Wife's last place, Group's last place (81 pts: 2 - 1st place votes, 8 - last place votes)
Wine C.
This was the one and only wine of the tasting where my wife and I had a very different opinion. I found this wine weak, boring, and lacking in any complexity. Even following a corked wine this didn't taste much better! My wife, on the other hand, found it to have a bright fruity nose, with a dried fruit, spice, leather palate.
Given this was supposed to be the cheap "ringer" in a tasting of far more expensive bottles, this wine did very well by the group.
Me - 85, Wife - 91/92
My 8th place wine, Wife's 4th place, Group's 4th place (49 pts: 1 - 1st place votes, 1 - 2nd place votes, 3 - second to last place votes)
Wine D.
My wow wine of the night, even when I went back to it later. Nice to see (upon unblinding) that it was my contribution to the tasting!
Lovely aroma and spice, bramble, and rich fruit on the palate. This wine grabs you and does not let go.
Well liked by the group.
Me - 93-94, Wife - 92
My 1st place wine, Wife's 2nd place, Group's 3rd place (44 pts: 2 - 1st place votes, 2 - 2nd place votes, 0 - second to last or last place votes)
Wine E.
Smooth, with slightly sweet fruit. Full bodied, with spice, dark fruit, smooth tannins, and a long finish. Young.
Me - 90/91, Wife - 91
My 3rd place wine, Wife's 1st place, Group's 5th place (50 pts: 1 - 1st place vote, 1 - 2nd place vote, 1 - second to last place vote)
Wine F.
This wine showed some age and is drinking very well right now. Nice structure here -- this has a long way to go. A big wine with a big aroma, spice, tannin, leather.
Me - 92, Wife - 91
My 2nd place wine, Wife's 3rd place, Group's 2nd place (49 pts: 1 - 1st place vote, 3 - 2nd place votes, 0 - second to last or last place votes)
Wine G.
Very fruit forward aroma, no complexity, light body, acidic. Not a good wine at this price point.
Me - 86, Wife - 85
My 7th place wine, Wife's 8th place, Group's 7th place (59 pts: 1 - 1st place vote, 2 - second to last place votes)
Wine H.
In a blind tasting, clearly an aged Bordeaux. Medium bodied, with meat/anise on nose, spice, and some acid.
A tough tasting for this wine, given it was up against younger mostly Napa cabs.
Me - 91, Wife - 88
My 4th place wine, Wife's 7th place, Group's 8th place (69 pts: 0 - 1st place votes, 1 - 2nd place votes, 1 - second the last place vote, 3 - last place votes)
Wine I.
A meh wine. A good Napa cab, just not exciting compared to the rest of the lineup. Fairly sweet in fruit, long finish, smooth tannins, dry. This is not really an ager.
Me - 87, Wife - 90
My 6th place wine, Wife's 6th place, Group's 6th place (49 pts: 0 - 1st place votes, 2 - 2nd place votes, 3 - second to last place votes)
Closing
Overall a great time was had by all. In terms of score, the wines tiered out.
Probably corked 2013 Herman Story Bolt Cutter on the bottom (81 pts).
Aged Bordeaux next (69 points).
An ok Washington 2013 Five Star Cellars (59 points) and Meh 2013 Tobias (58 points) next.
Then a solid Liparita Yountville V Block (50 points) with a surprising "ringer" cheap wine 2013 Avalon (49 points).
Then the top wines (all aged Napa cabs!) -- a rich 2008 Seavey Caravina (44 points), big 2009 Raymond St. Helena (42 points), and complex 2007 EMH Black Cat (42 points).
So ageing a quality Napa cab seemed to pay off at this tasting!