I think It was fun I enjoyed it wow time for a Challenge I’ve got two wines here I have No idea what they are and I’m gonna try And blind taste them and figure it out Last week I put out a video how to blind Taste and I shouldn’t talk to talk if I Can’t walk the walk so in this video I’m Going to try and put my knowledge to the Test this is really the third video of a Series and I’d really recommend you Watch our other two videos first because This blind tasting combines the Knowledge from the first two videos First you got to watch how to taste wine Which is here where we talk a lot about The basics of tasting and assessing a Wine next I’d watch How to blind taste Here and in that video I explain how to Blind taste what Clues we look for and How we arrive at our answer but if You’re the type of person that likes to Flip to the back of the book to reveal The ending first feel free to watch this Video and then you can go back and watch The other ones later here’s how this is Going to work my wife picked out two Wines using criteria I gave her it’s the Same criteria as the certified Court of Master sommelier’s exam now we’re not Following the exact methodology for the Quartermasters but it’s fairly close for This level there are 20 grapes and about 50 places eligible and by the end of my
Blind I’m gonna try and Guess The Place The grape the approximate age and the Quality level of the wine Normally I don’t use tasting grids Anymore just because I’ve done this a Few times so I usually do in my head but Today I’m going to use it just so I can Keep track of what I assess and I can Tell you before we get started do me a Favor give me a like And subscribe if You haven’t already all right I’m gonna Walk off my wife is gonna pour the wines And I’ll be right back I sent her into the store today and she Forgot her ID so I had to come into the Store at the checkout and then close my Eyes at the checkout so I wouldn’t see The lines but I had to give them my ID I Promise you I don’t know what they are It’s a Great Lengths to not know what They are they’re it’s one of the grapes That is typically used on the certified Swimming exam in one of the places And that’s all I know otherwise I just Know it’s white wine so let’s let’s go So if you know me from my other tastings I always say Spend more time on the nose than the Palate because you can get a lot out of It And I already have a good idea of what This is just based on the nose you’re Not supposed to do that I’m supposed to Go through like a math problem right
Even if you know the answer you’re Supposed to show your work so I have a Good idea of what this is though I don’t Think I know where but let’s go through The same way I talked about in the Previous video Is it new world or Old World this is Actually kind of tough My gut there’s like a smoky slatey thing Going on my gut says old world but let’s Taste it and see a little more I’m Thinking I’m sticking to Old World and The reason I’m saying that remember we Said old world tastes like Mineral driven for whites And New World tastes like fruit I think This has more of a mineral driven Character and the other reason I’m going To say old world is because the acid is Pretty high and it’s a pretty light body Good good good acidity and that is a Sign of usually cooler climates and There’s more of those in the old world Than not So I’m going to say Old World Is it a Cool climate or warm climate I mean I Think I kind of just told you I the the Acidity is really high the fruit Character is Citrus meets stone fruit Kind of thing so I lean towards like a Cool climate so that’s going to be my Assessment I think this is an Old World Cool climate wine I’m just going to Write that down
And that’s going to help tell us a lot About what place this is But I won’t know for sure what place it Is until I assess what grape it is so What we’re going to do now is go to the Grape and then we’ll come back we’ll Figure out the place All right so now let’s talk about what Grape it is if you remember in my last Video I said to assess the grape you Want to know the fruit character the Oak And the structure and then also if There’s any dead giveaways so let’s go One by one Fruit character It’s a pretty tart fruit character and That comes from a few things One lots of citrus fruit two lots of Acid so that you get a tart character In the fruit from the acidity And I will say I am getting some Stone Fruits like some some peachy flavors but I would still say I mean sour it almost Tastes sour right tart citrusy fruit Character with a little stone fruit next What is my structure for my whites I Want to know Acid or no body and I want to know sugar I already mentioned really high acidity A shitty my mouth is salivating right And it’s that tartness So acid High I’m going to say the body Is
Medium minus it’s not light but it’s by No means heavy And sugar This might have like just a hair I’m not Even I wouldn’t even describe it as off Dry but just a little bit of residual Sugar I’m still going to describe it as dry If there’s any sugar it’s minimal and Then are there any giveaways there’s a Couple things in here that maybe would Tell me some clues about the grape but I Am getting a smokiness from this That I might say is the faintest hint of Petrol gasoline and that’s a big Giveaway if that’s what it is but I’m Not sure I’m ready to call it that yet And then there’s some good floral notes There’s kind of an aromatic Nose to this you know those can be a Giveaway because there’s only so many of Them So that being said let’s eliminate what Is this not remember I said when we’re Talking about blind tasting we want to Talk about what this is not first we can Eliminate a bunch of stuff on our chart Here so it is not I don’t think Chardonnay unless it’s a really lean Chardonnay like a Chablis which it could Be but I don’t get the chalky salinity That I would get from Chablis I’m gonna Say it’s notchably and not Chardonnay I Also don’t think it’s Shannon Blanc the
Residual sugar might lead me to think Shannon Blanca some of the stone fruit But it would need a bigger body it’s too Light to be Shannon Blanc Uh converge demeanor I don’t think so it Is Two you know I would get lychee I would Get some ginger I’d get some the nose on Conversion meter is pretty a dead Giveaway of that so I don’t think it’s That Could it be Pinot Grigio Maybe but The stone fruit Character of it and and it doesn’t Really have that crunchy acidity that Sometimes associate with Pinot Grigio so I don’t think it’s Pinot Grigio So that leaves Oh is it torontus again like that would Be a super aromatic nose I just don’t get that it’s not perfumey Uh like torontus or covert Samina would Be so that leaves only three grapes Albarino Riesling and sauvignon blanc so I poned it in I hope it’s one of those With a distant fourth of Chablis my First impression when I smelled I kind Of thought it was sauvignon blanc but That’s why we do the grid because when I Went through the grid a little more I Was like oh I think this is Riesling Because The evidence supports it which is that
Slatey Smoky almost petroly minerality The great acidity the Citrus and stone Fruit at the same time I could also give it Albarino the only Reason I’m not doing that because I Don’t get a ton of salinity which is a Hallmark of albrino I think I’m gonna go Riesling I think Riesling first Sauvignon blanc second but let’s say It’s Riesling So now We said it was old world we said it was Cool climate And we sink it’s Riesling well if you Know your wine regions of the world Especially the ones that are going to be On a test like this but just generally There’s one place that’s very very Famous for Old World cool climate Riesling and that is Germany so I’m Going to say this is From Germany specifically if you made me Guess I’m not great enough at the mosul and The Rhine differential to pick that but Maybe I’ll say Ryan because I think it’s A little cheaper next is quality Now quality remember from our previous Video we said is assessed by a few Things It’s assessed by complexity and length I’m gonna guess this is still cabinet Because it’s it’s not very sweet that’s The lowest usually level sweetness so
I’m going to say it’s a cabinet level I’m going to say this is a 24 bottle of Wine and the last thing is age the old If I’m thinking it’s Riesling the thing That develops with rieslinger’s age is That petrol notes I’m not getting a ton Of that I’m gonna say it’s four years Old I’m gonna say this is 2018. so Final answer Riesling From Ryan Germany Cabinet level quality 24 ish 2018 vintage and Lisa did a good job of Being very stone-faced she didn’t give Me a single reaction as I did this so Now is the fun part or not fun part for Me if I’m way off Maybe I should give a backup if it’s Solving your own Blanc my backup is that It’s French sauvignon blanc it’s sancera Polyfume All right Album that way off I might be I can Sometimes get it spot on but sometimes We’ll see You ready Wow really So it was my second pick but I literally Said it wasn’t this so it is Sauvignon Blanc I should have gone with my gut the first Thing out of my mouth when I smelled it I was like it’s sauvignon blanc and
Sauvignon blanc has a really distinct Nose But this felt like it has some residual Sugar and that threw me off So it’s it’s sauvignon blanc but I Thought it was so it was my second Choice not my first choice I’ll take That I just I wouldn’t have said it was Marlboro that’s pretty cool because it Really is mineral driven all right Quickly the point of doing this is to Learn from your mistakes so you can get Better First off I should have got the grape Because while it didn’t have the Greenness typically associated with Sauvignon blanc that element that I kept Saying was smoke or petrol was actually Flint and that’s a Savion Blanc Hallmark This is why you need to know your theory People How could I have got that it was new World I don’t think I gave it enough Credit for its fruitiness and weight What I called a hint of residual sugar Was likely fruit I did get the price and Age fairly spot on while I’m mad at Myself I probably would have passed this If it was on the exam because my Conclusion made sense but man it’s Frustrating when you called it first Thing and then you talk yourself out of The right answer all right
Set up the next one I’ll get into it We’re gonna do the same thing we’re Gonna start with is it old world or new World and is it cool climate or warm Climate Man I am Rusty at this This is going to be hard All right I’m gonna make it here’s what I’m gonna do I’m gonna make a call now Before I go through the tasting grid That talks me out of it maybe and then I’m not going to show it to you now Though I’ll show it to you at the end so You have proof I think it’s So Now I’m gonna go back to doing the Others okay so let’s get into the what It is I think it’s old world because It just really Smells like dirt more than it smells Like fruit and then I tried it and it Backs up in the sense that it’s got some Pretty good acidity which leads me to a Cooler climate I don’t think it’s cool or warm honestly I mean I don’t think I’d describe it as A hot climate I don’t think I described As a super cool climate but I lean Towards old world it’s pretty tart What is next okay so now we gotta figure Out the grape right Fruit character Oak influence Structure Fruit character red fruit
For sure red fruit Cherry raspberry I don’t even know if I’d go dark cherry I mean this is cherry-esque Oak presents I think so Because there’s a smoke to it And There’s another thing that might lead me To Oak presents there’s Rim variation So there’s a difference in the color Between the middle and the outside a Little bit and that’s from oxygen that’s Either from oxygen in the bottle or Oxygen in a barrel one of the two So I’m definitely getting to some Almost like sweet spice That spice character baking spices uh Can be Oak Uh structure wise Tannin Acid and body Tannin For sure Medium plus medium to medium plus tandem Drying my mouth out right make my tongue Feel a bit like leather Mean plus tandem acid yes lots of Acidity I got my mouth salivate tart Fruit character I’d say medium Plus Body Medium Are there any giveaways any grape Characteristics that would be dead
Giveaway I don’t think so It smells like a wine that I know that I Told you I my big guess at the beginning But there’s nothing that would give that Away to me so I’m not gonna say it All right so now let’s go back to well So what grape do we think it is start There what grape do you think it is Here’s our sheet of Reds right you can Just go down the list and get rid of the Ones that we don’t think it is is it Cabernet Franc I mean it does have red Fruit it does have medium body It theoretically could be Cabernet Franc But it’s not you know Cabernet francs More can be more purple fruit violet-y It’s not giving me the Hallmarks of Cabernet Franc like the bell pepper so I’m gonna say no is it Cabernet Sauvignon it could be I mean everything Checks out Oak medium body medium plus Tannin uh Medium plus acidity I mean the acidity Is probably a bit too high for Cabernet But it could be old world Cabernet The only reason I would say no is Because it’s really in red fruit so it’s It’s not a very ripe Cabernet if it is Cabernet I’m gonna say no I just I just Don’t think it is could it be Bordeaux Maybe but I don’t think so Uh that would be light body no tannin Very fruity not gonna make could it be Grenache
Too much I mean Grenache is a high acid Grape but In Grenache they usually do it here in Like a blends like it’s not a GSM blend I don’t get any of the Syrah peppery and Gamey I don’t get any I mean I guess to Get tannin it could be for moved but It’s not giving me you know Grenache Characteristics Was it Malbec that’s a purple fruit wine I mean I said this is pretty clearly in A red fruit land so I’m gonna say no Plus Malbec most Malbec has made in the New world and I already said this is Old World wine Could it be Merlot Again could be it’s not new world Merlot It could be old world Merlot it could be Bordeaux But the tannins are pretty harsh and the Acidity is pretty high Merlot’s kind of a lower acid grape so Far my only second to guess it could be Is Old World Cat old world Cabernet Could it be nebiolo could it be barolo Or barbaresco See I’m gonna trip myself up off of what I thought because it’s got It’s got a Lot of the it’s Old World cool climate Yes it’s got red fruit yes it’s got Oak It’s got lots of tannin It’s got lots of acid it could be Nebiolo All right my second is now nebiolo I
Still think my first is Right could it Be Pinot Noir too much tannin it’s gonna Be Sandy of aze Could be San Diego sure I don’t get any Of the Hallmarks around things they Don’t get purple fruits I don’t get Um Pepper or any gameiness tempranio so This is what I initially thought it was I thought it was Rioja it reminds me a Lot of Rioja Because it has age on it I can tell from the color in the rim Variation and uh the oak I thought it was an Envy kind of these Tartar fruits But as I get into it I was initially going to say it’s Rioja But as I get into it I’m kind of thinking it’s Italy I’m kind Of thinking it’s either Perler barbaresco Sangiovese What’s tripping me up is that the body Doesn’t feel big enough to be sandyovese So I’m gonna get rid of that I’m saying It’s The last one is Infidel it’s not just Fidel it’s not big enough I’m saying it’s tempranio or nebiolo so That means it’s either Broiler or Barbaresco Or it’s Rioja If you’re talking about Old World cool Climate Naviolo you’re in Italy and you’re
Barolo if you’re talking old world Coolish climate Spain you’re a temper Neo And the more I get into it so how do we Pick between the two we’re down to those Two right How do I pick between the two They have a lot of similar Characteristics nebula and tempranio the Big uh in Rioja the biggest thing would Be body right bigger body ripe or fruit Maybe some of that sweet Oak character Tempranio from Rioja Leaner More tannin and Leaner fruits Nebiola I’m really in the weeds Because now I also think it could be Northern Rhone Syrah no it’s nebula or Temper Neo and I think because of the Body character why are you laughing I’m going nebiola I think it’s for all over barbaresco the Tan instructor is really high Fruit characters red the body’s light It’s old world it’s cool climate it’s High in acid I think this is nebiola I think it’s not too expensive I think it’s probably barbaresco Six-year-old nebiolo 2016 Nebiolo from barbaresco No quality level I mean barbaresco just
On its own I think it’s a 40 One dollar bottle of wine back up Tempranio back up Rioja but I’m going Nebula Oh it was Rioja Gut go with my gut both times my gut was Right it’s real hot and it’s Grand Reserve of 2013. wow All right uh Uh lesson in life go with your gut I Mean that was my first instinct and I Talked myself out of it I think it’s Real hot The reason I didn’t give it this is a Couple things though so one I’d be Curious okay yes so they use here’s why I didn’t think it was real loud they use And they say it right on the bottle they Use French Oak that is a new style of Rioja traditional Rioja you didn’t know That’s okay but traditional Rioja uses American Oak and those Hallmarks are Dill and coconut is a big one and I Didn’t get any of that and that makes Sense because it’s French Oak which is Kind of your new school of Rioja so That’s fine I mean I like that style too But it didn’t give me the you know Traditional Rioja Vibes and then the other reason I didn’t Think it was very old I mean it’s pretty Old it’s 2013. And from a quality perspective is one It’s pretty tart fruit and two
You know the the acid is still screaming And the tannin is still screaming like It’s really really high and usually with An older wine I’d expect to see that Faded a bit Um that means I don’t know that this is Probably actually a pretty good year-end Line and it’ll last a long time What are you gonna do it was fun I Enjoyed it I keep having to learn this Lesson I remember even when I took the Test years ago I got myself in the weeds So you gotta use the grid to get close But then go with your gut don’t Overthink it your first impressions are Probably right that being said if you’re Taking a test you’d get the classic Rioja with American Oak which would be Fairly easier to get All right so here we are I’m feeling a Bit humbled today I mean I did Technically get them with my initial Thought I know I didn’t say the first One but I initially said oh I think I Know what this is and I thought Sauvignon blanc and then same thing I Was I did that one I proved it got it Right but I talked myself out of it by Overthinking and so the lesson we Learned today is not to take wine Tasting too seriously because when you Overthink you’re probably gonna talk Yourself to the wrong conclusion Um I still stand by going through a
Systematic approach to it Both of the conclusions like I said made Sense both of these are my second choice And I just talked myself out of it with Some slight details when I started to Get to In The Weeds so go with your gut But still follow the grid and go you Know I think you’ll end up with a good Assessment of a wine On the very least these are fun Exercises to do because they help you be Better I mean I know now I want to start Tasting again I haven’t blind tasted in A long time so I kind of now want to get Back into a tasting group but that’s the Fun of it is seeing if you’re right or Wrong and I can take a slice of Humble Pie every once in a while so I hope you Enjoyed this video I hope you learned Something And like I said this video probably Didn’t make a lot of sense if you didn’t See our other one so go back if you Haven’t already watch the how to plan How to blind taste video and how to Taste wine video and thanks for tuning In uh I’ll see you soon maybe we’ll do Another blind tasting and I’ll get them Right cheers
