I recently began hosting biweekly blind tastings at my home as a series of small-group learning experiences. Five of us got together last Thursday evening to taste Gewurztraminer wines.

Gewurztraminers, with their floral, spicy aromatics and slightly sweet lychee-nut taste, are an excellent match for fresh fruit and cheeses and a good complement to many simple fish and chicken dishes, especially recipes that include pepper spices, oriental five-spice, or even curry. These are especially excellent wines to serve chilled in warm weather, and I complemented them with slices of sourdough bread and Chevre, Gruyere, and Boursin cheeses; one bottle’s label suggests trying Munster or blue-veined cheeses.

Of the five wines we compared, three were produced in Alsace, France; one originates from Alexander Valley in California; and one is from New Zealand. As you’ll see from the results below - and being no great surprise to me - the Alsatian wines tallied well with the group.

The Alsace appellation was a definite influence on my purchase of the Schlumberger; the interesting aspect being that at this particular tasting, we scored two identical bottles. Why did one win group favor and the other take third place? Probably because I had poured mine right out of the refrigerator; the other, though having been chilled all day, had ample chance to warm up inside an attendee’s car on an evening that was a tad above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The group, on such an evening, easily favored the cooler of the two.

The wines listed below are ranked top-down, most favorite to least favorite; each is followed by the wine’s heat (alcohol content). If no link exists for a particular label, that label is quite possibly no longer available.

In the left column is the actual group score for each wine using my 20-point Wine Scoring Sheet.

Group Ranking
+3: 2003 Domaines Schlumberger, Fleur, Alsace, France; 13.5%
+1: 2003 Pierre Sparr, Alsace, France; 13.5%
-1: 2003 Domaines Schlumberger, Fleur, Alsace, France; 13.5%
-1: 2004 Huia, Marlborough Vineyard, New Zealand; 14.5%
-2: 2005 New Gewurz North Coast, Alexander Valley Vineyards, Healdsburg; 12.8%

Winehiker’s Ranking
2003 Domaines Schlumberger, Fleur, Alsace, France; 13.5%
2003 Pierre Sparr, Alsace, France; 13.5%
2004 Huia, Marlborough Vineyard, New Zealand; 14.5%
2003 Domaines Schlumberger, Fleur, Alsace, France; 13.5%
2005 New Gewurz North Coast, Alexander Valley Vineyards, Healdsburg; 12.8%

As you can see, my picks were fairly consistent with the group’s; I definitely like my Gewurz’s chilled. Conclusion: you sure can’t miss with those Alsatian Gewurztraminers!

~winehiker

Our monthly group got together one recent Friday night to taste six Sangiovese wines. Finding a bottle of Sangiovese was relatively easy to find at the area’s many wine merchants, unlike the shopping tribulations we experienced last month trying to find a good Barbera. Of our six wines, 3 were from California, and 3 were from Italy. The group agreed that though Sangiovese makes for a good red table wine, especially with food, the finish is short-lived.
I’m fairly certain that most of us in the group favor bolder, long-finish wines. But of course one of the reasons we taste together is to develop our knowledge of those wines we would not ordinarily choose to drink.

Each of the wines listed below are ranked top-down, most favorite to least favorite; each is followed by the wine’s heat (alcohol content). If no link exists for a particular label, that label is most likely no longer available.

I’ve added a new figure in the left column: the actual group score for each wine using the Wine Scoring Sheet our group developed. You can see that there was one clear favorite: the 2002 Altamura from Napa Valley.

My purchase was the 2001 Picchetti Sangiovese, an old wine as Sangioveses go; there were two ’01s in our tasting. Despite its “age” and mild finish, the Picchetti scored well in this tasting, ranking second with the group and also my second favorite. Unfortunately, this wine appears to be no longer available in the usual online outlets. However, this tasting affirmed the appeal that Picchetti wines have for me in general; I should disclose that I’m a member of their wine club.

Group Ranking
+4: 2002 Altamura, Napa Valley 14.2
+1: 2001 Picchetti, Central Coast 14.8
+0: 2003 La Fortuna, Rosso di Montalcino 13.5
–1: 2002 Conti Contini, Toscana 13.5
–2: 2003 Seghesio, Alexander Valley 14.8
–2: 2001 Terrabianca “Campaccio”, Toscana 13.0

Winehiker’s Ranking
2002 Conti Contini, Toscana 13.5
2001 Picchetti, Central Coast 14.8
2003 Seghesio, Alexander Valley 14.8
2002 Altamura, Napa Valley 14.2
2001 Terrabianca “Campaccio”, Toscana 13.0
2003 La Fortuna, di Montalcino 13.5

~winehiker

Last night at the San Carlos home of my friend Brad Brooke, our monthly group enjoyed a comparative blind tasting of seven wines made from the Barbera grape. Just like last month’s Cabernet Franc tasting, this tasting reflected an astounding aspect: though there’s not a lot of pure-varietal Barbera available in the local marketplace (despite the reported fact that Barbera is the fifth-most widely-planted grape in California), we again managed to not duplicate any labels. What an intrepid and resourceful group of wine shoppers we have in our circle!

Of our seven wines, 3 were from Northern California, and 4 were from Italy’s celebrated Piedmont region. The consensus of the group was that we like the Barbera produced from both geographies. There was no clear favorite, but rather 3 wines that rated significantly higher than the others.

Each of the wines listed below are ranked top-down, most favorite to least favorite; each is followed by the wine’s heat, or alcohol content. My purchase was the Sunset, which has been awarded 3 gold medals, one of which was the Best of California Gold Medal at the 2002 California State Fair. Funny that the group liked it more than I did - but not too much more!

Group Ranking
1998 Torti Incanto, Lombardy 13.5
2002 Sunset, Napa Valley 14.9
2003 Preston, Dry Creek Valley 14.5
2003 Seghesio, Sonoma County 14.6
2002 La Spinetta Ca di Pian d’Asti 13.5
2001 Cascina Castle T d’Asti 14.5
2002 Ruggeri Corsini Armujan d’Alba 14

Winehiker’s Ranking
2002 La Spinetta Ca di Pian d’Asti 13.5
2003 Preston, Dry Creek Valley 14.5
2002 Sunset, Napa Valley 14.9
1998 Torti Incanto, Lombardy 13.5
2001 Cascina Castle T d’Asti 14.5
2002 Ruggeri Corsini Armujan d’Alba 14
2003 Seghesio, Sonoma County 14.6

Next month, in tribute to the Olympics being held in Torino, Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, we’ll continue with the Italian theme, choosing Sangiovese as our grape. I’d like to wish a special viaggio buono to fellow wine-taster Dave Medlicott, who is about to jet off to Torino. Dave is a troubleshooter in video production technologies, and will be working non-stop during the Olympic telecast. I expect Dave will also get in some great skiing and wine tasting, especially if his girlfriend Debbie has anything to say about it. I believe we sent them off in good fashion last night.

~winehiker

Technorati Profile

There are a handful of us who get together monthly to worship our wine via a mechanism commonly called a “blind tasting.” We call our events the “South Bay Wine Education Series.” Each month, we choose a different varietal and endeavor to educate our palates about the distinctive properties of each wine we taste. We each research, shop for, and bring our own selections. There’s usually about seven to nine of us around the table, which, as you can imagine, is completely filled with glassware. If we didn’t have large dining room tables to support our worship practices, we’d have logistical issues. Or we’d repeatedly spill wine from our TV trays!

Last week at the home of my dear friends Alexis and Bob, we tasted seven Cabernet Franc wines. The amazing aspect of this tasting was that there’s not a lot of pure-varietal Cab Franc available in the local marketplace. I know - I called around. The fact that we managed to not duplicate any labels (always an interesting sidelight to a blind tasting) was something I find rather astounding.

In this and future posts, I plan to list the results of the group tastings I attend and host so that you, gentle reader, can make informed purchase decisions about varietals you are considering. You’ll see how the group ranked the wines collectively, and underneath that you’ll see how I scored them on a 20-point scale. To aid our scoring, both individual and group, we use this wine scoring sheet. So that you can typically get the straight scoop quickly, I’ll try not to clutter these “results” posts with too much verbiage. (Except for this first one, of course.) You’ll find these tasting results in the Tasting Results category that appears in the navigation links to your right.

If you’d like to see the results of our previous tastings, I encourage you to post a comment.

Group Ranking

+3 Robert Sinskey 2001 Los Carneros, 13.7%, $29
+2 Burrell School “Le Grand Rouge” 2002 Santa Cruz Mountains, 14%, $28
+2 Hahn Estates 2004 Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County, 13.5%, $12
+2 Hawthorne Mountain 2002 Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, 13%
-1 St. Supery 2001 Dollarhill Vineyard, Napa Valley, 14.5%
-3 Cooper-Garrod 2002 Francville Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains, 14.5%, $22
-4 Stonefly 2001 Napa Valley, 13.2%, $18

Winehiker’s Ranking

Hahn Estates 17.5
Cooper-Garrod 15.5
Stonefly 14
St. Supery 12
Hawthorne Mountain 12
Robert Sinskey 11.5
Burrell School “Le Grand Rouge” 11

Next month, our chosen grape is Barbera. I think I’ll go exotic and whirl up some kind of olive-and-feta concoction to go with it.

~winehiker