Sunday, December 09, 2007

Blind tasting night with friends

We spent Saturday evening hosting a blind wine tasting with some friends. The rules were simple...bring a somewhat pricey wine (>$75). My thinking is that a Napa cab would be the default selection brought by guest (my personal bias running rampant?). I was surprised that only two were Napa cabs. Here is how they rated, along with a link to CellarTracker (the best wine site for tracking your personal collection):
  1. 2001 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Napa Valley Merlot
  2. 2003 Cliff Lede Poetry Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
  3. 1997 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
  4. 2004 Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno Tuscana IGT
  5. 1994 Lyeth North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon
In the end, we were all winners as each of us had the opportunity to enjoy great wine with great food (lamb, ribs, salad, rosemary potatoes, sausage fried rice, several cheeses and a variety of desserts) with great friends. We decided to have a blind tasting every three months and to select themes around a specific varietal. We also realized mid-tasting that we should have planted a wine in the mix for fun...either something more reasonably priced or just all together different. Next time!

1 comment:

Evonne and Darren said...

Wow, that sounds like fun, maybe I'll start one here on Maui with a slightly lower budget like $25 > $50! =)