Tasting Blind

Blind tastings can be fun, frustrating, rewarding and distressing, all at the same time. They also teach a valuable lesson. All palates are different. All mouths react differently to the flavor of wine. Fancy descriptors like "road tar" don't mean much unless you munch on a lot of road tar and are completely familiar with its various nuances. But blind tastings offer a chance to compare opinions, not to mention palates. All it takes is a few bottles of wine, a few brown paper bags and a few friends. Paper and pencil are helpful, too. Any sort of combination can work, though it's best to keep the wines the same color. Try wines from the same area made by different winemakers, or wines from the same winemaker over two or three different vintages, or wines from different areas of the same vintage. Or any other competitive situation. Peter Huwiler, whose Merryvale vineyards are responsible for some of Napa Valley's most elegant wines, came to River City recently to lead a blind tasting of top cabernet sauvignons for a group of about two dozen wine buyers, sommeliers and restaurateurs, with a stray wine writer or two along for the ride. Some of the wines were 100 percent cab; others were blends, though predominantly of the great grape that is the foundation for most classic Bordeaux varieties. All were from the 2000 vintage and we tasted them blind, with the bottles in paper bags to hide the labels. In addition to his own Merryvale Profile, a delicious blend, Huwiler also opened Caymus, Dominus, Opus One, Pahlmeyer and Joseph Phelps Insignia blend. A seventh wine also was involved, but a bottle turned out to be corked and it was taken out of competition. The wines were swirled, sniffed, examined, tasted. There was no scoring system; we were asked to rate them in order, one through six, based on overall impression. Rating sheets had boxes to grade the wine's visual appearance, its aroma, its flavor and its finish. They then were collected so the scores could be tabulated, then passed back to us as Huwiler read the results. All the wines were outstanding; the distance between one and six was small enough that I would have enjoyed any of them with dinner. But since we were there for a purpose, the rankings looked like this: MINE - THE GROUP'S Pahlmeyer - Merryvale Caymus - Caymus Merryvale - Phelps Insignia Opus One - Opus One Phelps Insignia - Pahlmeyer Dominus - Dominus Interestingly, the group agreed with me (or I with the group) on two, four and six, and we diverged on one, three and five. With only six wines, I'm certain that the laws of probability would have us coming together at least once. All were of elegant, deep, ruby color but I thought the Pahlmeyer had a very slight edge. Aromas were about the same, but the Pahlmeyer and the Merryvale had a little more depth. Same for flavor, where Merryvale, Caymus and Opus were a shade ahead. Pahlmeyer and Caymus offered longer and smoother finishes than the others.  And since the instructions to the tasters were to rate the wines on "overall impression," that's what I did. I had previously tasted four of the wines on other occasions; oddly, I had not tasted those I picked one-two. Does that mean anything? Who knows?  I know that any of them would have made a good dinner into a superior one, and that's what wine is for. * * * * Meanwhile, some interesting wines have come across the table in the last month or so, and I thought I'd look at a handful ... The old advice to drink white wines immediately takes a knock from – of all people – Gallo, which recently released a 1999 chardonnay under its Gallo of Sonoma label, and at a fancy price of $45, the kind of money that used to buy us a case or two of Hearty Burgundy. But this is a splendid wine, with superior balance and a slightly austere finish, more like the great Chablis of the real Burgundy than like the big, buttery, oaky wines of California. Jordan Winery, whose reds and sparkling wines are exceptional, now has a 2001 chardonnay ($26) from the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County with a lot of flavor. There's butter in this one, and a big, explosive, flowery taste. Excellent. J. Lohr, whose reds were discussed in the last column, has an ‘01 chardonnay from the Arroyo Seco region of Santa Barbara County, with a little more wood and tannin. About six more months of bottle age should soften the tannins, which will make the wine superior. About $25. Another Russian River chardonnay, an ‘02 from Charles Creek ($22), is made in the French style, lean and delicious, and the grapes do not have to battle the wood to display their flavor.  The veteran Sebastiani family offers a 2001 chardonnay from Sonoma County that is of medium body, with nice fruit and hints of grapefruit along the way. A good value at $13. Similar in style is the 2001 from Logan, of Monterey County ($18), with just a few notes of oak and a medium body. Crisp and with good flavor, will go well with oysters on the  shell.  And speaking of Merryvale, as we were at the top of the column, the Napa vineyards have several chardonnays. Silhouette ($30) comes from Napa Valley grapes and it's big and round, with hints of apple in the flavor and a long, smooth finish. A reserve chardonnay ($20), with grapes from the famed Carneros area, in southern Napa county near San Pablo Bay, blended with some from the Russian River Valley. Elegant.