Oh, LA We were visiting pals on LA over the American Turkey Eating Day Holiday Day and did a fun blind tasting of a few wines this past Sunday afternoon. This was after the tons of dim sum. And the massage. Oh, and the lovely sunny weather... sitting outside. Drinking wine.
Oddly, there was something going on with the "sky" as we kept getting rained on by tiny flakes of dirt. It was raining dirt. For real. To the point that we were covering glasses and decanters.
The line-up
We did two blind tastings. One was a selection of whites from my pal Kristy's home cellar. Then we did a tasting of four Syrahs (although one turned out not to be (ooops).
Note that below I list the reds first and then the whites. That is just how I roll.
The Who Sunshine Jen (of happyrobot fame) joined us as well as our good pal Mark. Kristy (who is in the "trade") and her husband (who isn't but is quite clever) and my lovely wife (who was in charge of making sure all the bottles were blind and that no one cheated).
BTW, Jen wrote all the entertaining notes comparing the wines to movies, books, and musicals.
Wine #1 Parrone
Syrah
Chile - Colchagua Valley
2006
This was my favorite of the Syrahs.
"Light body. Doesn't seem 'new world'"
"Loving on the nose. Funk music. John Keats poetry"
"needs some big ass meat"
Wine #2 Columbia Crest Reserve Syrah
Washington State
2005
This was Sunshine Jen's favorite.
"The color purple"
"Pretty nose. Juicy. New world style"
"Nice nose. Woody, Ireland. WB Yeats"
"This one is your buddy, all it needs is you to drink it"
Wine #3 Gotham
Syrah
2008
Australia - McLaren Vale
"Candied black fruit. Chocolate. Rich on palate. Very jammy."
"There are violets."
"Good opera, not Andrew Lloyd Webber. Maria Callas Dramatic."
"Bright chocolate flowers"
Wine #4 Domaine Monpertuis: Cuvee Counoise
NOT Syrah! Counoise! Crap.
2006
France - Vin de Pays du Gard (south of France)
This wasn't a Syrah. Mistake on the part of the clerk who pulled the wines. Oooops.
That said, I liked it.
"A little bit of jammy fruit - but not much fruit in general. Menthol or eucalyptus. Floral. Body a bit thin."
"Very Standard, Musical Theatre. Rogers and Hammerstein"
The whites!
Wine #1 Vergelegen
Semillon & Sauvignon Blanc blend
2005
South Africa - Stellenbosch
"Grapefruit. Youthful." (ha. it's a 2005. i don't know what i am talking about.)
"Not too sweet, not too smacky"
"Mellow yellow. Alice in Wonderland"
"Textbook white"
"Fragrant. Grass? Lemon. Grapefruit again."
"What is it good for? Fish."
"Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Dance number"
Wine #3 Tormaresca
Chardonnay
Italy - Puglia
2006
"WTF? Familiar. Italian?"
"Lemon. Lime. Chalky."
"Very neutral."
"Kind of an un-wine"
"Cormac McCarthy’s The Road"
Wine #4 Geyerhof
Gruner Veltliner
2008
Austria
"lots of character, complex, tingles the tounge"
"Funky, grabs ya like the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark"
"Finishes nice, the lid is back on the ark"
"Floral. Honey. Funky (in a good way)."
