Blind wine tastings can be a lot of fun, though if they are taken too seriously, they can be a very humbling experience. Mostly, they are fun and an opportunity to try to judge both familiar and unfamiliar wines.
Oh, I know there are wine-tasters who can tell you what side of the hill was home to the vineyard in a small appellation in France, or how close to the Napa-Sonoma border an obscure California wine was produced.
But I can’t do that, and neither can 99 percent of the people who drink wine for fun or profit – or both. And they don’t care. Neither do I. We want wines that taste good, and we want wines that can be found in a comfortable area of the price scale.
Not all blind tastings are alike, of course, and sometimes they serve a commercial, if useful purpose, like the one I attended last week. It was extremely simple. Six red wines were poured, and a group of local wine purveyors, chefs and restaurateurs was asked to taste them and to evaluate them, not on any sort of esoteric scale, but simply to rank them.
Heck Estates of San Rafael, Calif., was the sponsor, and David Crane, assistant national sales manager, was on hand to lead the discussion. The Heck family, by the way, has a history with St. Louis. Gary Heck, the boss, is the grandson of Adolf Heck, who once owned Cook’s Imperial Champagne, a sparkling-wine company that operated not far from where Sportsman’s Park was located. That stadium, at Grand and Dodier, was home to the Browns (1902-53), and the Cardinals (1920-66); they shared it for 33 years. In other words, it was in use for 64 years; its first downtown successor was around for 40.
The cellars where Cook’s Imperial was stored and aged were closed down by the FBI during World War II when it was discovered that some of the profit was being siphoned off to Joachim von Ribbentrop, German foreign minister, and used for the Nazis.
The Hecks had left St. Louis by then, headed to California and the purchase of Korbel, maker of brandy and sparkling wine. The family also owns the Kenwood, Lake Sonoma and Valley of the Moon labels, and our key wine was one of its from 2002. The purpose, according to Crane, was to show that a moderately priced wine, like the Valley of the Moon, could be as welcome to our palates as wines that bore a much greater price. The label says "Cuvee de la Luna," from Sonoma County, and its California retail price is $29.95. Like the others, it was a so-called "Bordeaux blend," using Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec in varying amounts., just as the winemakers of the Bordeaux region will do.
All the wines were round, fruity and well-balanced, partly because they were aged enough for the rough edges to have been softened by spending time in barrel and bottle. My preference for the Valley of the Moon was based on my liking for wines with complex flavors and a lengthy finish. And of the sextet, I thought the Valley of the Moon worked best.
The Cuvee de la Luna, to be specific, has Cabernet Sauvignon (59 percent), Merlot (31), Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (each 5). When all was said and done and drunk, I ranked it third of the six we tasted. Then the bottles were displayed. The competition, all from Napa Valley and all of the same vintage, was Dominus Napa Valley ($149.95), Cain Five Napa Valley Red Blend ($99.95), Flora Springs Trilogy ($59.95), Niebaum Coppola Rubicon ($122.95) and Franciscan Magnificat ($49.95).
As I said, I picked the Valley of the Moon as third, with the Trilogy first and the Rubicon second, though all six wines were excellent. The Magnificat, Cain Five and Dominus were the next three, respectively. In the market, to drink tonight, or in the next year or two, I’d probably choose the Valley of the Moon, but I wonder if it will age as well – or as long – as the others.
The group’s choices differed from mine a little – the overall vote, which included mine, was a first-place tie between Valley of the Moon and Rubicon, followed by Trilogy, Cain Five, Dominus and Magnificat.
The blind tasting did prove one thing, however, and that’s why Heck Estates went to the time, trouble and expense to do it. Price is not always the way to judge a bottle of wine on a shelf. Be open to variations, make notes on the wines you like. More important, make notes on the wines you don’t like so you do not make a mistake more than once. Oh, yes, and good luck.
–Joe