Good evening wine lovers!
Something a little different once again. This time I find myself at the Waite Campus where I am about to embark on a red wine blind taste test. I have done this once before, but that was nearly twelve months ago.
Tonight, I will put up what I think I have tasted during the course of the evening. There are six wines in total. I will also put alongside the wine the tasting number; but you don’t need to worry too much about that.
I am interested to see how I fair with this test. When well renowned wine critic Oz Clarke (UK) did a blind test of the 13 different varietals allowed in a certain French region he only successfully managed to pick out 3 from the 13 correctly. However, he had red and white wine to contend with, I only have to deal with red.
So with nothing more to say, I think it’s time to move on to the wines
Wine 1 (657)
Type: Cabernet Sauvignon, Region: Coonawarra. Nose: Blackcurrant, mint, aniseed, chocolate. Palate: Chewy grippy tannin, tobacco, spearmint. A bit young I found, but had a lingering finish. Probably a $30 bottle.
Wine 2 (767)
Type: Cabernet Sauvignon, Region: Barossa, Nose: Loud fruit character, plum outright, and hidden blackberry. Not much oak display. At first I thought it might have been a Shiraz until the… Palate: It shows quite a bit of acid, it over shadows the wine and leaves the fruit in the background somewhat not as prominent as I would have thought considering the nose. The wine carries a long finish albeit an unpleasant one. Price may a $10 bottle.
Wine 3 (541)
Type: Cabernet Sauvignon. Region: Tough call. I don’t think it is South Australian. So maybe, Margaret River. If it is SA made I would go Coonawarra. Nose: Smells like the wine has some age behind it, which leads me to think this wine might be a 2003-2007 vintage as the colour of the wine had also started to go brick red. Blackcurrant and earthy tones make their way through, with a little hint of olive and cherry/chocolate. Palate: Tannin still has grip, and there is a pleasant mix of fruit and spice. It’s finish is somewhat refreshing, like you have been chewing on a mint leaf. I feel this wine has more to offer. Price: Maybe in the $40 to $50 price bracket. (Please don’t let this one be wrong…)
Wine 4 (170)
Type: Cabernet (Merlot) Region: Tough to tell if this wine has the cheeky Merlot grape in it. Could be Barossa, could be somewhere with a cool climate. Nose: It smells more delicate than the other wines before it. Plum and a bit of pepper on the nose. The nose itself is quite appealing. It makes me wonder if the wine has Merlot in it. It displays more fruit aroma than the aroma associated with Cabernet. Palate: Soft tannin, not as juicy as I would have expected which makes me believe even more so that Merlot has been added here. It doesn’t speak loudly, but ripe cherry pushes through on the end. Price: Unsure, it is either a cheap cabernet, or as I do think, a blend of the two grapes.
Wine 5 (912)
Type: Cabernet Sauvignon, Region: Barossa, Nose: Bolding oak characters, tobacco and blackcurrant. Palate: Grippy tannin, still a very young wine, I feel that this wine has legs, but not the finesse to render it an expensive bottle. The ending is not as pleasant as the beginning. It promised to be a lot more. Therefore, it could be a dreaded high priced 2011 Barossa vintage (displays a lot of oak, not much fruit and falls flat. All 2011 trademarks), or a $20 bottle from a better vintage.
Wine 6 (428)
Type: Cabernet Sauvignon, Region: Tough to call. Nose: Herbaceous, almost pine forest aroma, nearly along the lines of pin-o-clean, but not as pungent. With hints of black forest cake in the far distance. Hence, I think the region this wine comes from has a cool climate. So it could be something from Victoria or maybe the Hunter Valley in NSW. The Palate is jammy, and I feel more Oak is needed and the ending is slightly tannic; which helps me believe it is from a cooler climate region. That being said, the wine carries length, and the taste is not as unpleasant as the nose. I don’t think it an expensive wine so maybe $10 to $15 a bottle.
That concludes my blind test. In a few weeks the AWRI will inform me of the 6 wines I tried over the evening. I will match them against my notes, and I will see how close I am.
The SA Wine Guy.
The SA Wine Guy 