Every month or two we try to organise a blind tasting in Barcelona, typically focusing on wines from around the world. It’s not a completely 100% blind experience so for each wine there was a choice of 3, each with tasting notes, with only one being correct. As always, it was a lot of fun and a great way to not only try different wines, but learn a bit about how they’re structured, how they taste and what really defines them in comparison with other wines from around the world. Below is the descriptions that were handed out, as well as the revealing of which wine was which!
Wine 1 is a:
Riesling from Alsace, France: Non-Grand-Cru Alsatian Riesling can be sourced from anywhere within the cool, northerly region of Alsace. It tends to be drier, richer and slightly higher in alcohol than their German equivalent, yet still with high levels of acidity and often a little residual sugar. Expect a floral, slightly steely wine with stone fruit flavours and a hint of citrus.
Chenin Blanc from Savennieres, France: Savennieres is a small, interesting appellation on the northern bank of the Loire. Unlike the rest of the Loire, mostly dry Chenin Blanc is produced here, with concentrated flavours of golden apples, pears, chamomile and roasted almonds. Alcohol levels are typically quite high, yet balanced by high levels of acidity, and often finishes with a slightly bitter note.
Pinot Gris from Alsace, France: Pinot Gris is one of Alsace’s ‘noble’ grape varieties, produced in a variety of styles. Due to the long, dry growing season this is where full ripeness is most commonly achieved for this grape, resulting in pronounced aromas of ripe stone fruits, tropical fruits, honey and smoke. The wines often have a distinctly oily texture, high levels of alcohol and can occasionlly suffer from low levels of acidity, particularly in warmer years. Can range from dry to sweet, but rarely has any obvious oak character.
Conclusion: This was a relatively straight shoot-out between Savennieres and Alsatian Riesling in terms of which people chose, as the wine was too light and delicate to ever really be a Pinot Gris. The off-dry levels of sugar, lower alcohols and delicate floral aromas all point to Riesling, but Savennieres still drew 4/10 votes. As someone who confused the entire first flight of Riesling with Chenin in my Diploma exam, I have some sympathy here!
Wine 2 is a:
Chardonnay from Napa Valley, USA: The hot, sun-kissed Napa Valley produces some of the worlds most distinctive (and expensive!) wines, with no-expenses spared in production. Chardonnay from the region tends to be big, bold and often quite glossy with lots of obvious French or American oak influences. Baked apples, tropical fruits and sweet oak aromas and flavours (vanilla, butterscotch) are common, as is relatively high levels of alcohol.
Semillon from Barossa Valley, Australia: Barossa Valley is better known for its huge, spicy and leathery red wines but white is produced here as well. Semillon here couldn’t be more different to its cousin in Hunter Valley, as the hot climate results in big, broad and often rich wines. Expect high levels of alcohol, low acidity and jammy stone fruit flavours and aromas, often with new oak influences.
Garnacha Blanca from Terra Alta, Spain: Garnacha Blanca, or white Grenache, is very much a Spanish speciality, with most of the varietal wines hailing from Catalunya, Aragon and Navarra. Styles can vary drastically, but the ripest, fullest bodied expressions tend to hail from southern Catalunya. Expect a dark colour, rich, ripe stone fruit flavours and toasted oak, which will be exclusively French rather than American.
Conclusion: Another tricky selection of clues, as they’re all full bodied, big white wines. A key difference here is the oak regime, with both the Napa Chardonnay and Barossa Semillon both likely to see American oak, whilst oaked Garnacha Blanca from Catalunya is pretty much always going to be French oak; smokier and darker, rather than the overtly sweet aromatics of American oak. 6/10 guesses went to Garnacha Blanca and it was also one of the most popular wines of the evening!
Wine 3 is a New World Pinot Noir. Where’s it from?
Pinot Noir from Yarra Valley, Australia: The Yarra Valley near Melbourne is one of Australia’s cooler climate zones and it comes as no surprise to find high quality Pinot Noir hailing from the region. However, the region still sees high levels of sunshine and as a result, alcohol levels can be high and fruit flavours quite pronounced and occasionally even jammy. The best examples will have balanced alcohol levels, soft tannins and a lovely minty sensation on the palate.
Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, USA: The Willamette Valley in Oregon is the heart-land of quality Pinot Noir production in the USA. Characterised by pure fruit flavours, floral aromas and often obvious, expensive French oak. Acidity levels can be high and tannins tend towards softness, and often a darker fruit character than most Burgundy. The best examples need years to develop interesting tertiary characteristics.
Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand: Whilst Central Otago and Martinborough are the most famous regions for producing Pinot Noir in New Zealand, Marlborough is the region with the most plantings. Bright, ripe fruit characters will dominate, with a characteristically high level of acidity and fine, supple tannins and tart red fruits on the palate. Levels of oak can vary but will invariably be French.
Conclusion: If you have the variety identified, a trickier task is often discovering where a wine came from, particularly for New World wines which we don’t see lots of in Barcelona. New Zealand Pinot Noir almost always has a friendly, fruit-forward nature and the high levels of acidity were key to identifying this wine; a key trait of Marlborough Pinot Noir. This was the most successful wine of the evening in terms of identification, with a very encouraging 8/10 voting for it!
Wine 4 is a:
Sangiovese from Chianti Classico, Italy: Chianti Classico is the original production zone in the much enlarged region of Chianti, producing quality wines predominantly from Sangiovese. Most wines will differ in colour intensity from pale to medium, often dependent upon ripeness levels and amounts of oak used. Classic flavours include sour cherry, high-toned red fruits, earth, leather and dried herbs. Expect high levels of acidity and medium levels of firm tannins.
Grenache dominant blend from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France: Most Chateauneuf-du-Pape is Grenache dominant and blended with other varieties, notably Syrah and Mourvedre. As a result, the flavour profiles can be quite mixed but tend towards ripe, occasionally jammy red and black fruits, game, leather, garrigue and sweet spices. New oak is rare, alcohol levels are invariably high and tannins tend to be soft, although they can be quite firm in youth.
Pinot Noir from Gevrey-Chambertin, France: Gevrey-Chambertin is a village in the Cote de Nuits sub-region within Burgundy, famed for its structured, powerful expressions of Pinot Noir. Most are quite unyielding in youth, yet open with time to reveal savoury flavours of mushrooms, earth and farmyard, typically accompanied by a ripe, red fruit profile. The colour tends to be slightly darker as well, with rich but supple tannins.
Conclusion: As an MW student said to me recently at the IWC, “The better you get at blind tasting, the more you’re forgiving of what would have seemed like unusual mistakes at the beginning”. Very true, and this is exactly why I placed two seemingly disparate suggestions together. Chianti Classico and Chateauneuf-du-Pape share a lot of stylistic similarities, especially when it comes to flavour and aroma profiles; the main differences are structural, with Chianti Classico having firmer tannins, higher acidity and lower alcohol levels. 4/10 chose correctly, and fortunately no-one was tempted by the Gevrey-Chambertin!
Wine 5 is a:
Merlot blend from Maipo, Chile: Maipo is much the most famous region in Chile’s Central Valley, famous for Bordeaux blends near the capital of Santiago. Merlot dominated wines from this region will be ripe and opulent, with ripe plummy fruits, dark chocolate, new oak and the same minty, herbal note found in Cabernet Sauvignon from the region as well. Alcohol levels are typically high and tannins soft.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Bordeaux (Left-Bank), France: Bordeaux has inspired wine-makers across the world, with practically every country making blends in a similar style. On the gravelly left-bank, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates, typically blended with Merlot and/or Cabernet Franc. Expect ripe blackcurrants, plums, leather, green bell pepper and occasionally graphite. Due to the moderate climate and maritime influences, alcohols tend towards moderate and tannins can be grippy. Cigar-box aromas, leather and tobacco can emerge with some age.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Stellenbosch, South Africa: Stellenbosch is the historical heart-land of South African wine, and Cabernet Sauvignon dominates here. Quality examples are similar to Bordeaux with riper fruit profiles, sometimes tending towards blackcurrant jam, intense notes of green bell pepper and often lavish oak. There may also be a smoky, tarry aroma typical of oak regimes in South Africa; French oak dominates.
Conclusion: Three different Bordeaux blends from three different places. This was a very popular wine and as the tasters dug deeper, they started to notice that the fruit was fresh, the alcohols moderate and the tannins still maintained grip and structure. Merlot was eliminated early on, and the majority ended up, correctly, on the left-bank of Bordeaux. There are some very convincing New World examples of Bordeaux blends, but the ripeness of fruit and often exuberant aromas/flavours will typically rule out Bordeaux which, certain right-bank wines excepted, is a model of restraint by comparison!
Wine 6 is a:
No clues for this one! It’s always nice to have at least a single completely blind wine in the flight, and so it pays to have something distinctive.
We talked through the wine as we tasted it, and the incredibly pronounced aromas, heavy fruit profile and obvious new oak spoke very much to the New World. After some bandying around with different grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon was correctly settled on; now where to place it? The key aromas here were herbal and from the oak regime, with crushed eucalyptus and sweet American oak singing from the glass. Most of the final guesses fell to Chile, which is a strong guess when you look at the evidence, but this was of course a Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra in Australia. A very engaging wine that people were surprised to hear is a Jacobs Creek brand!