Pinot Noirs blind

Sixteen people, 35 bottles of wine. Not my favorite way to taste wine (way too many bottles) but always good company, good food and a fun time--and sometimes I learn a something. The main feature was 7 flights of four Pinots blind with the last flight short a bottle. We were asked to score each bottle and to guess whether it was a Burgundy (one each flight). The pours were obviously small and dump buckets were liberally used. It says a lot for this group that even with self pours no one came up short. All we knew was that they were all PNs and there was probably a Burgundy in each flight. No corked bottles!

Too many wines to comment on each one, but some of the highlights:

1) The group's wine of the night was the '06 Rivers Marie Summa
2) my wotn was the '02 Marcassin Blue Slide Ridge
3) my wine ('04 Pisoni Estate) finished in the upper third. The only person to trash it was me, of course. It is way too young.
4) the ringer was an '05 Keller Spatburgunder Trocken which I enjoyed. It certainly didn't seem out of place. It had been pored into a Kosta-Browne bottle, but since the bottles were bagged the ringer effect was limited.
5) the '90 Mommessin Taillepied tasted like all the 90s I've tried recently--void of fruits. Ugh.
6) '95 Laurent Echezeaux was pretty open for a '95 and starting to shed the oak (7th place for me)
7) '06 Alesia San Mateo (my 3rd) continues to impress. I pegged it as a Burgundy and I've had a bottle of this recently.
8 ) I picked both '03 Burgundies as new world. The '03 Bouchard Corton is much too young, wait many years/The '03 Leroy SLB Narbontons was nice (my 6th)
9) I'm not a big fan of Oregon PNs and I didn't rate any of the '06 Bergstrom Shea, '03 Patricia Green Notorious or the '04 St. Innocent Seven Springs in the top half; but the '04 Shea Estate and the '05 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve were pleasant surprises (both tied for my 4th).
10) The '97 Geantet-Pansiot Charems-Chambertin was just okay, too bad since I have some.
11) I really liked an Aussie pinot--'04 Kooyong Ferrous. My # 2. This is why blind tastings can be so useful.
12) A bunch highly touted producers ended up in the middle: '04 Hansel North Slope, '04 Kistler Cuvee Elisabeth, '04 DuMol Finn, '04 Kanzler Reserve (although I liked this better than most/this ranked overall in the bottom three). Is it a coincidence that these are all '04s? I think the '04s, in general, work best with food.
13) '06 Ata Rangi was the only screwcap. I don't have much experience with NZ PNs (mostly Felton Roads) but this did not impress. The '01 Dry River and the '01 Pegasus Bay were better.
14) Group #2 was '02 School House/Group #3 was '99 Girardin Corton Clos du Roi
15) The other burg was '05 Lignier-Michelot MSD VV; decent QPR and still pretty open
16) I don't remember much about the '06 Anthill Peters.


There were some starter wines. The only one that I tried was the one I brought, '01 Trimbach CFE--I like this a lot. Food was great, company was fun and it was nice to meet some new blood. Thanks to Wally for hosting and congratulations to Jordan for getting each Burgundy/NW bottle right.

[David M. Bueker]

Some thoughts in reply:

- 2004 California Pinots do not impress me at all. I find most of them way too alcoholic for their own good. I much prefer 2005.

- I think that if the Keller had been in a tall flute it would have seemed more out of place, even in a bag.

- Neither 2003 nor 2004 is a favorite Oregon vintage for me. 2002 and 2005 are more my style.

- I had the '06 Alesia San Mateo the other night & liked it very much as well.

- If 2003 Burgs do ever come around it will take years. I'm sitting on a few, but not many.

- Lignier-Michelot is a very good producer.

- 1997 Burgs are not holding up well.

[Jenise]

Very impressive that in a group pf that many wines, any person would get them ALL right and not get fooled by the warm vintages, etc. Did he or she (can't tell from the name) win something?

Very impressive that in a group pf that many wines, any person would get them ALL right and not get fooled by the warm vintages, etc. Did he or she (can't tell from the name) win something?

He won bragging rights for the year and a bottle of wine. The individuals with the top three group wines also win a bottle ('04 Leroy Vosne, '03 Drouhin Bonnes Mares, '02 Jadot CV). This is the third year and the first time a Burgundy has cracked the top three. This is not a format for subtle wines.

David, I have found quite a few '04s that I've liked: Williams-Selyem, Radio-Coteau, Alesia and Dain. I also have high hopes for the Dehlingers, but I agree it is a vintage where careful selection is required. I have a number of '03 Burgundies (including the '03 Bouchard Corton) and I'm in no hurry to dig in.

Not being on the Marcassin list, learning that I really like the BSR wasn't very helpful. On the hand, I'm going to explore some Australian Pinots and the tasting did caution me against writing off Oregon completely.

The Ata Rangi 2006 is what I call a 'thinking' wine. I can't imagine it doing well in this kind of tasting -not unless it had been dacanted first to give it a chance to open up. It does not have the upfront 'wow' factor but pour it into a big glass and take some time musing over it and you may come up with a different impression.

Sounds like an interesting tasting nevertheless. Lots of names there I've never heard of, that's for sure.

Sue, I agree this it isn't a format for contemplation. Many of the attendees have more Burgundies in their cellar than any other Pinot. The prizes are all Burgundies for a reason, but usually the bigger wines stand out more in this setting. I'm sure the rankings would be much different if few of us got together with some of these bottles over dinner. I view this as fun first and exploration second. I would rarely write off any particular producer because of bad showing at our annual showdown.

I've enjoyed the Felton Roads that I've opened so far and will continue to explore NZ pinot in more congenial surroundings. (But probably the Dry River before the Ata Rangi).

Ah, Wally's PN "Smackdown". Great event. What were Wally's "loser" prizes this time round?

And as far as that Aussie Pinot showing so well - bah. I'd brought the 05 Kooyong Estate to the last Smackdown and it won me the second loser prize then - remember it showing very poorly with a lot of acidity and a very disjointed mouthfeel. (Glad this one showed well though.)

Interesting the Kistler crashed and burned in the tasting again. I remember another one of the highly touted/priced Kistler PNs showed very poorly at the last Smackdown as well.

Glad to see there was no corked wine this time btw.

And as far as that Aussie Pinot showing so well - bah. I'd brought the 05 Kooyong Estate to the last Smackdown and it won me the second loser prize then - remember it showing very poorly with a lot of acidity and a very disjointed mouthfeel. (Glad this one showed well though.)

Glad to see there was no corked wine this time btw.

The loser prizes were a tin of gourmet cat food, some designer barf bags and wine glass/candle holder combination(?).

I seem to recall a some debate about whether your Aussie had a VA problem; I'm shocked that someone was brave enough to enter another one. Only one corked bottle last year, unfortunately it was an '83 d'Yquem.

The loser prizes were a tin of gourmet cat food, some designer barf bags and wine glass/candle holder combination(?).

Tame. Really, what kind of Smackdown was this? (I'll have to give Wally some flak for this, or at least ask Keith to do so on my behalf now.) After all that trash-talk I expected something better for the losers - considering the standards set last year with the tongue scraper I earned and Mel's Primitivo.

I seem to recall a some debate about whether your Aussie had a VA problem; I'm shocked that someone was brave enough to enter another one. Only one corked bottle last year, unfortunately it was an '83 d'Yquem.

I'm quite curious to find another bottle of that Kooyong now. I remember Wally had mentioned later that he stuck the Kooyong PN leftovers in his fridge, and a few days later when he was drinking it with some of the other wines it was really good.

As for the '83 Yquem - I remember that tragedy last time. Greatest corked wine I've ever had though.