Several of you are loyal followers of our “Vintage Pairs” blind tasting sessions that happen every other month, so we decided to add in an additional blind tasting series that will happen on Saturday afternoons. We will feature a different topic each time, but no pairs to guide you through. The tasting will include ten wines all tasted blind; we will taste in flights of five wines each. The selection isn’t just from our inventory, so studying our list won’t necessarily help. But, don’t be intimidated as I will still be helping to guide you through. When you arrive, you will receive the list of wines for the tasting, so this event is semi-blind. This blind tasting session is for all, both the expert and the beginner. We will proceed through the tasting together in an analytical way to uncover the answer of wine region, producer and vintage.

Our theme for our third session of Blind Tasting Saturdays is Bolder Wines From Thick-Skinned Grapes. Here are the areas we will cover: Northern Rhône, California, Bordeaux, Bandol, Argentina, Australia and Italy. The thick-skinned grapes we are including in this blind tasting session are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec, Mourvèdre, Nebbiolo and Syrah. The idea behind this tasting is that we learn more about these thick-skinned grape varieties by tasting them and discerning more about their unique qualities.

For the first session, the theme was Pinot Noir From Around the World, and the big discovery was that Germany is the region to watch as Spätburgunder (their name for Pinot Noir) has gotten better and better. The overall favourite wine of the day was 2015 Deutzerhof – Grand Duc Reserve Spätburgunder ’30 Monate Barrique’ Auktion.

Then, for the second session, the theme was Syrah From Around the World, and the big discovery was Switzerland (Discover the Syrahs of Jean-René Germanier), Italy (Try Tua Rita’s Syrahs from Tuscany), and the Santa Cruz Mountains in California (Check out Rhys) are making delicious Syrah.

Come join me on Saturday, 14 September, focused and ready to guess the bolder wines from thick-skinned grapes you love so much.