I’ve learned by now to always be intrigued by the theme, as they never fail to be fascinating, fun and educational. This was no exception. Upon walking into the room, we found that our tastes had already been poured—meaning we would be tasting blind!
Now if there’s something else that that I’ve gotten way too lax about besides actually writing for Give Me Grapes, it’s actually tasting my wine. I’ve returned to drinking wine just because it’s so darn good; my leaning curve has flat-lined. It had been many, many months since I’d jotted down tasting notes of any substantial nature. But, I was there and I was determined to give it the old college try.
So, back to the theme… Five wines (all Ridge wines, of course). All recently reviewed by one critic and given scores. The top and bottom score have a 10 point spread. No two wines received the same score. We are to taste them and rank them in the order we like best (essentially scoring them ourselves). It’s really an experiment in wine scores. Does it matter if it’s an 88 or a 91? Can you tell the difference between a 98 and a 94? Did we agree amongst ourselves? And were we in agreement with the critic? We were about to find out.
Wine A had a strong nose full of blackberry and smoke. It tasted young (but then again I did expect that recently reviewed wines are likely to be recent vintages). The tannins were strong, but it wasn’t high alcohol; I thought it would go well with food. Speaking of which, there were the usual delicious cheeses, fresh bread, and this time other yummies like fig-olive spread.
Wine B had a weaker nose than A, I smelled a hint of jalapeno. It was not very fruity, much more earthy and had no real tannins.
Wine C had a great nose of subtle fruit. The best one yet, I wrote. It had deep flavors, dark fruit and mild tannins. I wrote this was my favorite one yet.
Wine D was stronger again on the nose with lots of berries. More tannins, and nice flavor—a good food wine.
Win E’s nose was a WOW! It smelled a little sweet but also spicy. It tasted kinda meaty. I wondered if this was the syrah with a bit of viognier Ridge makes, and I love so much.
After my first pass through the wines I was at a loss. I liked them all, as I’ve never met a Ridge wine I didn’t like. They were clearly all different wines too. Having to rank them was like comparing apples to oranges. And what if I, as the critic, would give two, or even three, of the wines the same score? Unsure how I was going to choose, I rapidly re-tasted each one in the original order. That only succeeded in making them taste like a huge blob of wine. So, I tasted each one with cheese and bread. I finally came up with a ranking, but frankly, it’s almost arbitrary! Wine C—Wine A—Wine E—Wine D—Wine B.
As the scores were tallied, we had “a little treat”. It was clearly an older wine, given its color and sediment. It had a great, earthy nose and wonderful flavor. Nice and chewy and still had great tannins and acid. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. This was my favorite!
So how did things turn out? Well, you won’t be surprised to learn that our rankings vs. the critic’s vs. each other were pretty much all over the place. Though, seven of us chose the highest rated wine as our favorite. But three people chose the lowest rated as the best! Seven of us had the same wine in the middle. No one seemed to have the same order and only one picked the same order as the critic. I knew there was a reason I rarely pay attention to wine scores!
The wines had been scored by Antonio Galloni, who writes for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. The top rated wine received a 98 and thus the lowest was an 88. Here’s what they were and how they stacked up:
Wine A= 2009 Estate Merlot, 90 points. It was my second fav.
Wine B= 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon, 94 points. My least favorite.
Wine C= 2009 Monte Bello, 98 points. I agree, was also my fav.
Wine D= 2009 Peronne Cabernet Franc, 92 points. #4 for me.
Wine E= 2010 Geyserville Zinfandel, 88 points. Middle of my pack.
Little treat= 1995 Monte Bello
Moral of the story (as I see it): Any wine that scores 88 or above is good, especially if it’s from a winery you know and like. Critics get paid to taste, spit and score wine. I’d rather drink it because I like it.
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