Blind Cab tasting 6/11/06 - Results

Greetings!
The Blind Cab tasting has been completed, and here are the results.

The wines (from favorite to least favorite)

1. 
   2002 Moon Mountain Reserve – 4 first place votes, 2-2nd place and one “last place” vote. My notes said “dusty and complex, needs time” I guessed the price to be $80, and ranked it #2 – $30
2. 
   2002 Clark-Claudon – This little gem is from a winery that Robert Parker has never rated below 90 points. 3 first place votes and no last place votes. I called it “complex and layered” and thought it was the most well-made wine in our tasting, guessing the price to be $70+ and ranking it #1 – $99
3. 
   2003 Caymus Special Select – No last place or first place votes, and the lion’s share of the 3rd and 4th place votes. I wrote that it was tight and layered, needing time in the bottle (or decanter) to fully develop, giving it a price of $60+ and ranking it #3 -$138
4. 
   2002 Jordan – The most 2nd place votes, and almost all of the 4th place votes not given to the Caymus, with one last place vote but no first place – It was in the bottom half of my ratings, and I thought it tasted a little “green” and guessed the price to be $45 – The actual shelf price is $49
5. 
   2001 Silver Oak “Alexander Valley” – The votes were across the board on this wine, with one first place vote, and no last place. I wrote that it was silky and complex, with a great fruit backbone, guessed the price to be $60, and ranked it #4 - $69
6. 
   2003 Cakebread – This wine got the most last place votes (3, including mine), but also had a first place vote! I wrote that it was very light and “laid-back”, guessing the price to be $24. IF I could get some (our allocation is currently sold out) the price would be $70
7. 
   2004 Hedges CMS – This is a wine that has been a perennial “Best Buy” from both the Wine Spectator and the Wine Enthusiast, and my “price rating” of $45 seems to bear that out. However, even though I liked the “perfumy” nose, and the notes of vanilla and chocolate, I wrote that there was “not much there” - $15
8. 
   2004 Hazy Blur Shiraz “Mclaren Vale”– This was my “ringer” in the group, and although several people picked it out as the “non-cab”, it only received 2 “last place” votes, and several bottles were purchased at the conclusion of the tasting. I commented on the “inky” character of the wine, and wrote that it was silky, chewy and balanced. I also guessed that this would be a $50 bottle of wine, and the actual price is $46

For the scoring, I dropped the best and worse score for each wine before calculating totals. I also included MY scores in the totals. (If you were at the tasting and wonder why these results are different from those mentioned at the conclusion of the tasting, I didn't do either of these then)

Additionally, you should know that we each had a list of the wines (Except the Shiraz, which was only identified as "Mystery Wine") and some published desciptions for each wine, although we didn't know which wine was in which glass. That was revealed after we had all "ranked" the wines.

Also, you should know that I decanted the heck out of these wines, probably the equivalent of three or four hours.

Lastly, the prices listed are the shelf price in a wine bar, and for any wines “special ordered”, your price will be about 20% less. (That makes the Clark-Claudon $79.20, the lowest price around!)

If you have any questions about these, or other wines, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,Chuck

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