Yes, we did it! We hosted the SLO Pourers single varietal pouring at our house. This is such a cool concept; you invite a bunch of people that are interested in learning more about wine and their own palates over to your place and have them bring a bottle of wine. You put those bottles in brown paper bags so that nobody knows what is what. Now, number the bags and get started! Everybody gets a small taste of each wine, taking notes on the nose, taste, and finish of each one. You rate them, maybe even guess where it’s from or how much it costs. Reveal the wines and discuss! It’s a great way to learn about a varietal and what you like and don’t like about its characteristics.
We picked Cabernet Sauvignon as the wine for the night…and got to try some really interesting stuff! It’s amazing to taste the different characteristics, be it subtle or huge, in each wine. People smelled things like berry cobbler, gasoline, violets, chocolate, meat, raid, roses, and the list goes on, even with the tastes that people came up with. So the moral of the story is: do a blind tasting! Figure out whatever you’d like to base it on, be it a wine region, a country, a varietal, a vintage, wines that pair with a specific food, whatever it is, it’s super fun and you’ll be excited to see how much you learn from it all!
Video 1 of 2:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvzSEJN7A4[/youtube]
Video 2 of 2:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCU2jtr3Lk4[/youtube]
Cheers!!!!!
Here’s the list of the wines we tasted:
Winner!!! 2001 Diamond Jem Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
2008 Nelle Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
2008 Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon – Napa Valley
2006 Chateau St. Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon – Columbia Valley
2004 Diamond Jem Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
2006 Liberte Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
2007 Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon – Columbia Valley
2007 Red Soles Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
2004 Staglin Family Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – Rutherford, Napa Valley
2007 Los Vascos Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Colchagua Valley, Chile
2006 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon – Healdsburg, Napa Valley
2008 Broadside Cabernet Sauvignon – Paso Robles
Shelbi says
THIS WAS A GREAT TASTING & THE BLOG IS WONDERFUL AS ALWAYS. THANK YOU GUYS FOR BEING THE HOSTS WITH THE MOST!
Hoot 'n Annie says
Thanks to you, too! Had a great time…can’t wait for Rose month in July!!!
Beverly says
Great video on your tasting at your house…wish I was there to join you. It would be cool if you could furnished us your list you had so we could do the same kind of tasting. I went to one but she didn’t put a bag over each bottle nor numbered them we just tasted and voted which was the best wine and the wine that got the most votes won, the person that brought the winning wine got a prize.
Hoot 'n Annie says
Hi Beverly,
We’ll work up a list to post, but you might have a hard time finding some of the wines we tasted. It would be fun for you to do a tasting with wines that you have readily available in your area so you can figure out what you like and have easy access to it! Let us know what you end up doing! Cheers!!!
Kelly Girl says
You need some drop stops for those dribbles! J. Lohr sells them.
Hoot 'n Annie says
Ahhhh…good idea, KG!!! Maybe we’ll grab some next time we’re out there. Those brown paper bags make it hard to pour good…but they make it easy to hold on and drink right out of the bottle! Hehehehe.
Beverly says
Thanks for listing the wines.
Monica Prunk says
AWESOME TIME! A great way to try a variety of wines from all over. A BIG THANKS to Matt & Annie for opening up their home for this event! 🙂
Hoot 'n Annie says
Thanks for coming…such a fun night! And THANK YOU for all the great food! Loved that smoked tri-tip! You guys are the best!!!