Michel's Remote Cab Tasting

Michel sent out his proposed rules:

We will taste 3 DIFFERENT wines 😊  Like we were suppose to do last time.

I can pick the 3 wines or someone can bring their own choice, if they would like.   The wines must be Cabs and must be between $35 and $50 approximately.   If someone wants to bring their own, they have to bring me 4 bottles of it (or I can go pick it up at your place).

I will then create 4 packages of three bottles, all in brown bags, with marked corked top, and bottles will be marked A, B and C, because I would like for all of us to taste the same bottle together.

I will deliver each of you a package of three bottles, some days ahead of the tasting, which could be on Saturday May 23rd.    

If that date works for you and you would like to chose a wine, please let me know ASAP, so I don’t buy more than needed.

I thought Ted and I were going to submit bottles. In the ends Michel supplied two and I supplied one. I chose from the SF Chronicle's Wine Competition Cabernet Winners.

Michel graciously picked up my wine and delivered the set to everyone. Ted's rocket ship wasn't necessary.

Jose texted that he was ready days before.

We zoomed, enjoying the company and wine. Michel told everyone that the wines were from three different regions: Napa, Livermore, and Paso Robles. Ted and Shannon tried to get everyone to guess what regions each of the wines were from.

Results

B 2016 Justin, Isosceles, Paso Robles - came in first place with an average of 3.76. It cost $47. It is usually priced out of the range, but a friend, who is an owner of a wine store, gave it to him at cost. It's listed as a Bordeaux blend. At a bigger tasting, price or blend might have disqualified it.

A 2016 McGrail Vineyards, Reserve, Livermore Valley - came in second place with an average of 3.58. It cost $48.

C 2016 Peju, Napa Valley- came in last place with an average of 3.13. It cost $41. Michel likes it for the price.

Our wine was too hot when we tasted it, but a later retasting at proper temperature confirmed at least the ones we liked the most.

Everyone having the same labeled wines I think helped. I'm not certain the aluminum foil was worth it, but it did hide the cork until extracted.

Vinvino came up as a source of future tastings. It scored the Justin a 4.5, the McGrail a 4.1, and the Peju a 4.2. Vivino's top rated Cabs from $30 - $50 looked like an interesting tasting to me.

Halleck Vineyard's Virtual Tasting

On a whim, I ordered a Virtual Tasting from Halleck Vineyards. Stop me if you've heard this one before. By on a whim, I mean I received an email offer at 11:30 after enjoying a couple bottles of wine, not wanting to go to bed because that would mean having to get up and go to work. I asked Sue if she was interested. She of course was. Shannon's birthday was right around the corner as was Sue's. I decided to buy two one for us and one for the Farrell's. We could partake somewhere in the middle of the two birthdays.

I ordered the Mother's Day Virtual Tasting, but in retrospect I could have investigated a little more before I purchased. I'm pretty certain we didn't need the embroidered apron and wine opener to say the least.

The tasting included

• 2019 "Not Your Mother's" Dry White Zinfandel
• 2017 Three Sons Cuvee Pinot Noir
• 2016 The Farm Vineyards Pinot Noir

I added a bottle of 2016 Haas Vineyard Pinot Noir. We have tasted at Halleck before, but never this wine.

The tasting included two different cheeses from Valley Ford and some chocolates. Instead of a White Zinfindel, we were shipped a Sauvignon Blanc. We scheduled the tasting for Friday at 5.

Halleck supplied materials to print out if you wanted and instructions on when to take the wines out. At 5, we were all set up.

Stephanie Culen was our host. She was excellent! She walked us through the 5 Ss: See, Swirl, Smell, Sip, and Savor. She made a short presentation on the history of Halleck. She guided us to the cheeses that paired best with the wine we were trying. She was very informative and answered any of our questions.

We had a great time.

All of the wine tasted great. The Farm was our favorite. Ted's favorite was the Haas.

I would recommend this experience to anyone.

In retrospect, Sue does make good use of the apron.

Jose's Remote Zin Tasting

Jose broached the idea of a remote wine tasting while everyone was sheltered in place. We talked about it for 3+ hours. Weeks later he sent out an email.

1. Vote on the type of wine we’ll taste. I narrowed the choices to three: Zins, Malbecs, and Pinots. My vote is Zins. Please reply to this email confirming your participation and with your vote.
2. Each tasting party suggests 1 or 2 wines to include in the tasting. Please make sure that the wines you suggest are available in quantities of 3 or more. Please reply to this email with your suggestions by Wednesday April 29th.
3. Once we have the list of candidates we’ll have a Zoom meeting to randomly choose only 3 wines from the suggested wines.  I will write the names of the wines in identical pieces of paper, drop the individual papers into an opaque container, shuffle, and draw from the container 3 choices, these will be the wines we’ll taste. Tentatively, we can have the wine drawing meeting on Thursday April 30th.
4. Each tasting party buys the chosen 3 wines. If one of your suggested wines is part of the 3 wines we are tasting, please provide the information where to buy that wine by Friday May 1st.
5. Once all parties have the same 3 wines at home we will schedule the Remote Tasting Meeting.
6. Some notes on how the tasting can be blind, specially when only one person is at home. My plan is to remove the cork wrapping, and paper bag each bottle as soon as I get them. Blind shuffle the bottles each day until the tasting day. On the day of the tasting uncork the bottles and shuffle then one more time. Finally, write a number on the bottles from 1 to 3. You should also number your covered bottles. Our numbering will not map to the same wines, but that is OK, when the tasting is done we’ll add each other’s rating per wine, not per number.

We agreed to Zin, knowing Jose's love of the varietal.

Our wine suggestions were:

1)We've tried the lower end from Dry Creek Vineyard. Why not try what they consider their best? I asked them. Here's the reply I received from their Direct to Consumer Manager, Michael Longerbeam We would choose one.

Our best Zinfandel? That’s a tough question to answer since we make so many, and they are each so different from one another.

I’ll highlight 3 of my personal favorites.

2017 Somers Ranch Zinfandel

If your preference is a fruit forward Zinfandel with a nice long finish, this is your best bet

2017 DCV2 Four Clones Zinfandel

A beautifully balanced Zinfandel made from four different Zinfandel clones

2017 Vogensen Ranch Zinfandel

Our mountain Zinfandel. The flavors are full bodied due to dry farming and vines grown at high elevation

2)Robert Biale "Black Chicken"

I found this in a light article, titled "5 California zinfandels you’ll want to drink right now".

"During Prohibition, when customers of the Biale farm ordered produce over the unsecure telephone party line, “black chicken” was code for a jug of zinfandel."

Sounded interesting.

Michel's suggestions were:

1 - Ridge Geyserville

2 - Rombauer Zinfandel N.V.

As the process progressed, the rules were changed so only three of the four tasting parties were able to pick a wine. I volunteered to not pick. Ted volunteered to disperse the wines, giving him more time to drive his new car. I was thankful, because I couldn't justify driving around for wine for a wine tasting as essential.

Ted's path to delivery was complicated, 6 steps long, but he pulled it off in record time.

After some discussion of tasting on Cinco de Mayo, which I thought was trouble, since it was a work night. We agreed to taste on a Saturday night at 8.

We got all set up. Taking the wines out of the cellar 2 and a half hours before, and pouring the wines into decanters an hour before. Alex didn't do as much homework as she should have, but came anyway. What a treat!

Jose had been ready since 5:30.

We zoomed, enjoying the company and wine. After we had settled on scores, Shannon guided us through an attempt to align our randomizations. Our A, was Michel's C, etc.

Results

B - 2013 Seghesio, Old Vine, Sonoma County took first place. It cost $30, including tax.

A - 2017 Rombauer took second place. It cost $35, including tax.

C - 2017 Rombauer took third place. It cost $38, including tax.

Unbelievably, two of the same wines were picked. Better yet, we all thought they tasted a little different. I wrote down sickening sweet as a descriptor for both of them, but I thought one was jammy, so what do I know. Alex had said how much she liked Rombauer zin during the tasting, but she's not certain which one her and her friend usually drink. Sometimes they enjoy El Dorado "Twin Rivers" Zinfandel.