Fail. A big fat F. That is the grade I would have received on my blind tasting exam. If that exam took place in my friend Rachel’s living room this afternoon. Luckily for me, it does not actually occur until March. In Vegas. Where, if I screw up, I can drown my sorrows in whisky and blackjack.
But, let us remain positive, shall we? OK- down to the nitty. The blind tasting: one of the more daunting tasks in the Court of Master Sommelier certified sommelier exam. 15 minutes will be given to taste a red wine and a white wine and correctly identify the grape varietal, the country of origin and the vintage. Yeah…not hard at all. When will I ever need to be able to do that in “real life” situations? Probably never. But, by training the olfactory senses in this intense way, it better enables us wine folk to inevitably understand value in a wine, regional and varietal identity, styles of winemaking, etc.
The Court is comprised of some nice people who have had to take this very same exam at some point in the early stages of their careers. Therefore, they kindly email us test-takers the exact format of the tasting exam ahead of time. They have also devised a Deductive Tasting method to help us out and break down each element of a wine into a clue to its grape and origin. There are 3 main categories: sight, nose and palate. Thoroughly examine each element of those categories one by one to then deduce what the wine could be (and what it definitely can’t be). Here is a simple breakdown of the deductive method and how what you see, smell and taste translate to a clue about what the wine in the glass could be.
I had my buddy Matthew at my fav wine shop Silverlake Wine pick out 2 bottles (a red and a white under $15) with instructions to have them concealed in brown paper bags upon my arrival. Rachel and I brought them back to her house and got to work. She opened the bottles without her glasses on so she wasn’t able to decipher any possible writing on the corks or foils. There would be not an ounce of cheating! We set the timer to 15 minutes and got serious.
White was first. I tried to go step by step and focus only on whatever identifier I had to describe: Fruit, Non-fruit, Earth/Mineral, Use of Oak. But I kept jumping ahead and thinking about what grape it was. Or about how sucky my description of ”slight peach” was or how I was sitting there nose deep in the glass and coming up with zilch. How could I all the sudden not know what anything ever in the world smelled like. There was a lot of second guessing involved. It wasn’t aged in oak. Or was it? It’s an unoaked chardonnay. No, it’s a sauvignon blanc from a moderate climate. No, wait. What? I’m wrong. I know nothing. I am a fraud… It had been 2 and a half minutes.
The lesson learned here is that I have to trust my instincts and listen to what the wine is saying. ( Yes, it talks. It sounds vaguely like Cate Blanchett.) And not get caught up in what I think it is supposed to be. We are graded not only on the final result but the assessments that lead us to our conclusion.
Rachel and I both independently came to the conclusion that the white was a 2008 New World sauvignon blanc from a moderate climate. WRONG. It was a 2008 French (Old World) gros manseng. Gros what? Exactly. Dear Matthew tried to get tricky. Gros manseng is a varietal that you don’t come across often and it definitely won’t be an option of white wines for the blind tasting exam. The wine comes from the southern coastal part of France in the Gascogne. At first taste I thought it was an unoaked chardonnay and as it opened and warmed up a bit, the slight stone fruit and citrus notes came forward. The viscosity of the wine was on the thick side for a white (higher alcohol) and I thought it was for sure a sauvignon blanc from maybe Chile or some other such New World country other than New Zealand.
The red- I had to take a minute and get adjusted to this one as it was so different from the white. It was quite dark and rich in color, with lower alcohol, older French oak, dried cherry flavor and some spice….it could have been many things. But, I knew what it wasn’t. It wasn’t zinfandel or cabernet. Definitely not gamay or sangiovese. Too dark to be pinot. More “woodsy” than a syrah. Still, I was stumped. Rachel and I both thought it was a cool climate old world wine. I took a guess at grenache but, I knew that was wrong because of the color. Yes, WRONG. It was a 2006 Crianza Rioja (tempranillo).
So, back to the drawing board. More blind tasting practice to be had… with less gros manseng involvement.
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“Yes, it talks. It sounds vaguely like Cate Blanchett”
you are hysterical.
This was a really interesting (and funny!) post! It’s funny that you posted about having a blind tasting; that’s exactly what my husband and I are planning to do in March with about a dozen friends. Since our palates are infinitely inferior to yours, I’m hoping that you can provide us with a few pointers on how to host a blind comparison tasting (red vs. red, white vs. white). We’re still in the planning stages (wine selection, menu planning, etc), so any tips you have would be great! Also, if you happen to be in the DC area on 20 March, you’re invited to join us.
Thanks Shauna! Glad you guys are jazzed about your wine tasting coming up. I’ll shot you an email with some tips.
ps: Definitely steering clear of the DC weather! Yikes. I am fine with the LA sunshine. Although, I always love me a wine tasting. Drink a glass for me!
I’m taking the test in May here in Beverly Hills (with the Court). Really nerved up about the blind tasting portion as well. My thoughts will be with you!
I just switched my exam to the one in Bev Hills in May too! I think I see some practice round blind tastings in our future…
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