CABs of Distinction blind tasting of Cabs from Paso, Napa and Bordeaux

I was invited to attend the session “The Judgement of Paso.” This was a blind tasting of wines from Paso Robles, Napa and Bordeaux. Rather than emulating past prejudices, I refrained from trying to tell the regions the wines were from.

Kathy and I have made barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon at wineries in Maryland and Virginia. We sourced grapes from both Paso Robles in 2009 and Napa in 2012 and 2014. We visited the Bordeaux region of France a few years ago. I was interested in discovering the wines that I liked the best during a blind tasting and in particular the ones that I would like to emulate making.

After tasting eight wines, two had high scores so I had to differentiate between the two. The panel of sommeliers revealed the producers for the wines. Two wines were from Bordeaux and my average score for those wines were 1.0. This was low and I wonder how well those wines represented the Bordeaux region. Both wines had an influence of bret, something I do not appreciate and think of as more a fault than a desirable. I was surprised that these wines were tasted. During our travels to Bordeaux, we did not encounter wines that had hints of bret at the wineries we visited. I have a left bank and right bank wine at home and will taste those to see if they exhibit the same characteristics that the two wines in the blind tasting showed.

That left the other six wines, three from Paso Robles and three from Napa. Surprisingly both areas had an average score of 3.0. For those that like statistics, Napa’s range was 1.0 and Paso Robles’ range was 2.0. The two wines I though that I would like to emulate were from both these two regions. My final selection was a wine from Calcareous, a Paso Robles winery. It was their 2012 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine barely scored higher than a Mondavi Cab. As far as making wine, I am happy that I have selected grapes sourced from both Paso Robles and Napa. Both areas are growing grapes that I like using to craft wines.

Cheers,
Terry