On my 60^th birthday friends and family gathered for a blind wine tasting. Since we were in Portland, Oregon it made sense to taste Pinot Noirs. Three Pinots were purchased in the same price range for the blind tasting. While at Zupan’s in Portland, I decided on a price range of $22 to $25. All Pinots were from the 2007 harvest. The French Pinot was a Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir Cuvée Gérard Potel 2007, while the New Zealand Pinot Noir was from Whitehaven. The 2007 Pinot Noir from Oregon was from Aubin Cellars Momtazi Vineyard.

For the tasting the wines were served in good quality crystal. All the stemware had a wine charm at the base so the glasses could be identified. The wines were poured in a different room. For the second wine pour, a small amount of the second wine was poured into the glass, swished and dumped before the second wine tasting was poured. The same was done before serving the third wine.

Scoring was a simple 1 to 5 for five different categories. The first four categories were typical structured tasting categories: sight, aroma, taste and finish. The fifth category was personal purchasing category ranging from one point for “I would never purchase that wine” to five points for “I would purchase the wine and serve it to guests.”

There were different opinions of all three wines and each wine had a distinctly different profile. The group wanted to guess where the wines were from before revealing the identity of the wines. Everyone in the group liked the third wine served and all but one theorized that the third wine was from France. Thinking was along the lines that since France is known for producing great wines the third wine must have been from France. However one taster theorized that the third wine was from Oregon and thought the French wine was the lowest scoring wine. He theorized that since France makes great wines, at the price point of the low to mid twenties the French wine would be lower scoring than the others.

The group was surprised by the results. The lowest scoring wine was from France. The wine in the middle scoring was from Oregon and the highest scoring wine was Whitehaven in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. The group was certainly impressed with the New Zealand Pinot Noir. Later in the event when matching the wines with cheeses and meats, it was noted that the French Pinot Noir was overpowered by Gouda while the New Zealand Pinot was able to hold up to the cheese.

Blind tastings are easy to conduct and add a degree of mystery to the tasting. All participants had a good time and were surprised by the results. Even for those living in Oregon, New Zealand Pinot Noirs are now on their radar.

Cheers,
Terry