| March 09, 2005 |
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| Blind tasting humble pie. |
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Posted by:
Super Admin
Category:
Fermenting: new ideas
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I have been invited to join the New York Times wine panel on several occasions in the past year. Sometimes solo and often accompanied by my husband, who is also in the biz. Arriving at the famed Times building is an experience not easily forgotten. The security requirements are daunting enough! There is a secret phone code for the Wine Editors desk and photo ids are issued. Up on the eleventh floor the long corridor is lined on both walls with large photos of the Times’ Pulitzer prize winners, very impressive and intimidating at the same time! The end of this journey is the tasting room, each place set with twenty-five tasting glasses all to be tasted blind.
The tasting coordinator, who searches for the wines in various wine stores, has not an easy job, I would imagine. Usually four people then sniff, swirl, taste and scribble notes, before the judging begins! The wines are read off with yay or nay. Not surprisingly there is a good deal of different opinions! Once the final group is accepted, we are asked for detailed descriptions of each.
The tastings cover a broad range of, usually specific, wine categories such as; Northern California pinot noir, domestic sparkling, Aussie riesling, Greek wines (my passion, I helped organize and choose the wines for the tasting), and Long Island reds. It was surprising how varied the quality of such wines can be! Certainly to find that Australian Riesling’s were so consistent, it was difficult to discard any of the samples.
Tasting blind is educational and gives a bare bones perspective on a particular wine. You cannot be influenced by the label or magazine score if you don’t know what it is! There is also plenty of opportunity for humility. My husband and I eliminated a wine we loved and featured on both our wines lists at the time, which was quite embarrassing! I’m always surprised and delighted by the outcome.
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