18 April 2005

Tasting Notes for April 17, 2005

Got invited to a private wine tasting... A couple of people were studying for their sommolier certification. No real theme here, but all wines were in the $10-15 range. Everything was evaluated blind in about two dozen different categories. I maintained my ususally bad track record with blind tasting--recently my guesses have been worse than random chance.

Wine 1: 2004 Kendall Jackson Riesling. Almost tasted like a moscato, didn't have that crisp riesling flavor. A decent wine for KJ.

Wine 2: 1999 Toasted Head Chardonnay. California chardonnay--fall fruit, oak.

Wine 3: 2002 Rodney Strong Chardonnay. Another California chardonnay, but this one had a much cleaner and brighter flavor.

Wine 4: 2001 Jekel Pinot Noir. I thought it was a syrah--lots of pepper and dried fruit flavors. Not bad, not spectacular.

Wine 5: 2003 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. I like Beaujolais, but think this probably tasted better last year. It had that fun banana Laffy-Taffy smell on top.

Wine 6: 2003 Turner Road Cabernet Sauvignon. Good dark fruit flavors, surprisingly low tannins for such a young cab sav.

Wine 7: 2001 Mas de Guiot Grenache-Syrah. A favorite from Saturday's tasting, I was curious to see how it would go over. Well-liked, but probably not appropriate for a blind tasting.

Wine 8: 2003 Famigilia Bianchi Malbec. The second wine that I brought, a French grape grown by Italian immigrants in Argentina. It's a big, full-bodied wine, with almost 15% alcohol. Good, but might mess you up for tasting something afterwards.

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