Started what will hopefully be a monthly blind tasting with a friend who also is wanting to learn more about wine. The format is very simple and the idea is to have an enjoyable evening, drinking and talking about wine. We each start with a bottle of wine either wrapped in a brown paper bag (newspaper this time around for me) or duck behind the bar with the bottle then open it and pour the wine without giving away what the wine is. We started with my newspaper wrapped bottle of Chateau Troplong Mondot St Emilion Grand Cru 2004 (80% Merlot) http://www.chateau-troplong-mondot.com/ from  St Emilion Bordeaux in France http://www.vins-bordeaux.fr/Tout-Vins/Appellation.aspx?culture=en-US&country=OTHERS&contentid=110 Having visited St Emilion in 2007 I can vouch for the opening statement about the village.
“Saint-Emilion is one of the most beautiful wine-producing villages in France. Famous wines are produced in this distinguished world heritage site where Merlot achieves its maximum quality.”
Not a good choice for a blind tasting, the wine was wrapped up in a tight ball of oak and the palate was a mouthful of chewy tannins. (I don’t know how wine reviews and makers can discern a wine from the barrel but it is an impressive gift). 7 years of age and still too young, decanted after a brief discussion about variety and region, it was not guessed.
Next was the bottle opened and poured behind the bar, my turn to guess the wine, Colour light with a ring of brick, an aged Pinot Noir, light on the nose with a faint smell of red fruits and a similar palate, ruled out Western Australia (savory), Burgundy (darker fruits, spice oak etc), maybe between New Zealand and Mornington Peninsular. Settled on Mornington Peninsular as New Zealand Pinots can have a more pronounced cherry flavour (Martinborough) and dry earthy tannins (central Ortago).
Wrong! It was an Old Kent River Pinot Noir 2002, http://www.oldkentriverwines.com.au/index.html located in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, so much for picking a Pinot from my own home state.
As I said at the beginning, this could become a regular event and maybe we can add 1 or 2 more people in. It’s a relaxed way of testing knowledge and learning about other peoples wine tastes and choices without looking like a dill in front of a group of strangers.