First Blind Tasting: 4 wines
My room in Forbes
Tasted July 30, 2008 by RajivAyyangar with 390 views
Introduction
Tasted with Joe R, Stu A, DGH, Julian.
Flight 1 (4 notes)
N: pineapple, faint honeyed pineapple (I'm going to use "-" for "a little" from now on), -grass, -stones
P med+ acid, light, nice finish, short. Dry.
N: ++burnt rubber, black pepper
P: low+ tannins, med+ acid, med body, fruity.
I guessed: rhone. It was indeed the wine I'd brought, but it wasn't a rhone, as I'd thought (the other Mas de Libian I've tasted was a rhone). $12.50
For me, barely drinkable - I can't stand the burnt rubber.
Med garnet.
Nose: Some stewed bell pepper, some raw bell pepper - all together, a whole lotta bell pepper. Very little fruit. Great acidity. Med+ tannins. Guess: cab franc. Actually: fer servadou! $12.50
Closing
Each person brought a wine that was bagged in foil or plastic. One guy waltzed right in and said "I brought a chablis, is that ok?" so... that was that. I myself brought what I thought was a full-bodied rhone (hadn't tasted it before. Here are the notes:
Wine 1:
The only white, and hence the chablis. med- straw in color. Faint grass and stones on the nose, followed by pineapple and a little honey. Dry, med++ acid. Clean finish, a bit short.
'06 Josephine Dubois Chablis
Wine 2:
Dark purple-saturated violet. Horrendous burnt rubber stink on the nose, with lots of black pepper as well. Low+ tannins, med+ acid, med body, rather fruity on the midpalate. The people at the store told me that while the other wines from this producer had been hard and tannic (which I'd liked), this one was fruitier, so I was fairly sure wine #2 was rhone. Julian, the most experienced taster at the tasting, said it might be a rhone, but he guessed Languedoc. Turns out it was a VdP from the Coteaux de L'Ardeche, so he was pretty close. '07 Mas de Libian "vin de pitanque"
Wine 3:
Med garnet color. N: monster pyrazines. A bit stewed, a it raw bell peppers. Very little fruit underneath. Great acid, med+ tannins. Guess: cab franc. We were so sure.... turned out to be Fer Servadou from Marcillac: '06 Dom. du Cros.
Wine 4:
C: dull garnet/purple
N: Strong black pepper, faint underlying barnyard.
Palate: light body, raspberries, cherries, med/med+ tannins. Guess: cotes de rhone. Julian randomly suggested Beaujolais, then changed to Cotes de rhone. I don't know why he suggested Beaujolais, but he was right - Domaine Dupre, vieilles vignes, "Terre Noir" beaujolais-village. According to the LWS owner, it's from Cotes de Brouilly, and it's called "terre Noir" because it's the only patch of black soil (not clay) on a big hill.
Beaujolais with strong black pepper and med+ tannins? I didn't have a chance.