Remove the Training Wheels...

Shane’s Notes

We have been blogging for almost a year, so we have decided to occasionally remove the training wheels and try some blind tastings. We try to be impartial but we are only human, and I’m sure that our tasting notes are sometimes influenced by price and/or the name of a fancy winery. We are still amateurs and learning everyday, so I’m certain that we will frequently embarrass ourselves my making mistakes like misidentifying varietals and/or mistaking a high quality wine for plonk. The road to knowledge is a painful one because you have to first admit your ignorance before you can learn. Anyway, it should be fun so here we go.

Jen was the victim of this blind tasting. I bought a red and we both tasted it. I did not tell Jen anything about the wine. Here are our notes.


Jen’s Notes: Nose: vanilla, round berry fruit, spices. Palate: smooth, fruit forward, a touch oaky, nice mid-palate succulence, not terribly complex but tasty fruit. Long finish with a bit of astringency and cedary spice, also something roasted. Gains a bit in complexity and concentration as it opens. Good BBQ wine.
Guesses: New World wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, $15.00.

Shane’s Notes: Color: dark red. Aroma: very sweet, maybe blackberry. Palate: Extremely smooth and harmonious. Very well structured. Sweet and juicy up front with a touch of pepper on the finish. Maybe some vanilla. Lacks complexity. Okay but not spectacular. Tastes like maybe it is a bit faded. Improves a little after 15-20 minutes. Not bad but a little over priced.

The wine: Ridge 2001 Paso Robles Zinfandel
The price: $23.99

This is the first time since we have been blogging that we have taken separate tasting notes. Interestingly, our notes are fairly similar. When we shared our notes, the main disagreement was over my comment that the wine was well-structured. I stand by my comment while Jen thought the wine was oaked instead of well-structured. Jen was in the ball park on the price, was right about the wine being from the new world and missed on the varietal. I’m not too surprised that she guessed wrong on the varietal, because we have never had a zinfandel with such a refined, elegant palate. We are used to rough zins with either massive fruit flavor or tons of spices and pepper. We liked this one but we aren’t too excited about it. Zins are like punk rock. You don’t want to hear the London symphony playing the Sex Pistols in tune and at a low volume. The music is too simple: the appeal is precisely that the music is out of tune and loud. Zins have a relatively simple flavor palate so there doesn’t seem to be much point in trying to craft a “classic” zin. We prefer disharmonious zins with a heavy concentration of juice and/or bizarre, spicy flavors