2009 - A Review

As this year is coming to an end, I'm finding myself reflecting on what has happened over the year, but also the things that didn't happen. I didn't find the time to blog like I had hoped, even though I think about blogging at least once a day. We've had some really great experiences, but I sometimes wonder how much more we could've done with our year. Looking back at the year, here are the standout events for me.

March was a great month for two reasons, the NCAA tournament, and the Boise Co-Op. For the second year in a row, Portland State made it into the NCAA tournament, and this time was playing in Boise. Now, how often will I get to watch the Vikings play in the NCAA tourney within driving distance of home? Probably not in the near future, so we took the opportunity to watch them play in Boise. While there, we visited with some friends of ours, who introduced us to the Boise Co-Op wine shop. The Co-Op is like nirvana for wine geeks. They have one of the best selections of wine we've seen, but that's not what makes the shop so great. They have an entire room that is temperature controlled which houses some pretty amazing stuff. I think we spent 45 minutes in there just geeking out on the wine that was there. We ended up getting a 6-pack of various stuff while we were there (thanks to recommendations), but sometimes I wish they opened up one in Portland.

In May, we hosted our first double blind tasting. Well, it was double blind for everybody but Sirpa and I, as we had picked the wines. For us, it was just a single blind tasting, as I bagged up the wines when nobody else was looking, and by the time we poured them, I had forgotten which was which. It was really enlightening to experience a wine without knowing what the producer was. The weekend with good friends and good wines was definitely a highlight of the year.

Early in November, we went to a party in celebration of some friends visiting town (the same friends that introducted us to the Co-Op). Now, I had heard some things about the parties that were hosted by the person that was hosting this one, and basically, they were usually a big group of wine geeks geeking out over wine all night, with plenty of juice flowing all night long. Turns out, that's exactly what it was. What started as a sampling of vintages from 1993-1999 of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir added a blind tasting between '05 California, Oregon, and Burgandy Pinot Noirs, as well as some bigger reds and some ridiculous desert stuff. '60 Port? '52 Madiera? Check and check. A really amazing night with some awesome people, I couldn't have asked for more.

I think I'm finding that while going out tasting and exploring with Sirpa is fun and enjoyable, being able to share our findings with friends as well as experience other new things with them is the most enjoyable aspect of wine. Sure, the flavors are usually delicious, and a responsible buzz from time to time isn't a horrible thing, but the shared experience of friends and wine is the best.

To the friends we've shared amazing experiences with, and to the friends we haven't seen enough, cheers to you!

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