Blind Tasting of '05 Cuvees

During the weekend trip to the lakehouse, I decided to put together a double blind tasting for everybody. I wanted to find 4 wines that had similar characteristics that could be compared. The wines that we chose were:

A) '05 Archery Summit Winery Premier Cuvee
B) '05 Cristom Mt. Jeffersom Cuvee
C) '05 Sokol Blosser Estate Cuvee
D) '05 Lachini Estate

Each of the wines were 2005 vintage Pinot Noirs, with three of the four being cuvees. it was really interesting to see how differently the 6 people ranked the wines differently.

Rankings:
1st: AABCDB
2nd: BDCBAC
3rd: CCDACA
4th: DBADBD

No clear winner (or best) of the night. All the wines scored the same (giving 4 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd, 1 for 4th), with the exception of the Cristom. That one had a funk to it that turned many of the tasters off (as shown with the 3 4th-place votes). The interesting thing is that no two people ranked the wines the same way, and that the one that a few people didn't like as much (Cristom), it was still ranked as both 1st and 2nd by two of the tasters.

Being able to taste these wines in this way was really insightful, as it eliminated any bias or preconceived notions the taster's might've had, and let the wines speak for themselves. The success of this tasting has be planning other blinds tastings already.

Some of the tasting notes written down during the tasting:
Lachini: red fruit, bits of blackberry, hints of charcoal, good mouthfeel, decent finish, earthy, smokey
SB: red fruit, hints of pepper, short & flat finish, light on palate, dies
ASW: the most tannic of the wines, almost chewy, fruit was hidden behind the level of tannins, would like to see this wine in another 8 years.
Cristom: A funk that turned a few off, but was interesting to others, good mouthfeel and balance

Wine filled weekend with friends

I've found out that drinking wine with friends is the best way to go. Especially when the friends you're drinking wine with are as passionate about it as you are. Spending the weekend at a lakehouse with said friends is just the icing on the cake.

We invited 4 friends of ours up to the lakehouse with us to spend the weekend relaxing and enjoying some wine. It was just the kind of weekend that many of us needed (getting away and just relaxing). Lots of laughs and lots of good wines drank. The only disappointments were 2 bottles of Broadley ('05 Bergstrom and '05 Claudia's Choice) that we picked up a couple weeks ago at their spring barrel tasting that were cooked.

The wines we drank over the course of the weekend in no particular order:
'06 Kosta Browne Keiffer Ranch Pinot Noir
NV Bugey Cerdon sparking rose
'07 Trisaetum Riesling
'04 Domain Droughin Oregon Artur Chardonney
'06 Sojourn Cellars Pinot Noir
'06 JK Carriere Antoinnette Pinot Noir
'06 Gary Farrel Pinot Noir
'06 King Estate Domaine Pinot Noir
'05 NxNW Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley
'04 Ayoub Pinot Noir
'08 Cinder Rose
'79 Pedro Jimenez
'05 Jessep Zin Port
NV Yolumba Antique Tawney
'06 Argyle LH Riesling -5

We also conducted a double blind tasting, which I will cover in another post.

It was really nice to be able to taste a bunch of good wines with friends who enjoyed them as much as we did, which doesn't happen as often as we might like. Hearing what others think about the wine you're drinking can be very insightful, and should be something that every wine drinker does from time to time.