Can A Sommelier Guess The Red Wine – Without Any Clues?

Can A Sommelier Guess The Red Wine – Without Any Clues?

this has no dead giveaways for me of what it could be so this is going to be tough I don’t know welcome to another session of Veno blind I’m Vince with V is for Veno and these are the sessions where we sit down and blind taste together so we can all learn and hopefully I’ll get a little better at tasting both blinds and then you can apply that stuff to real life if you haven’t seen our how to blind taste videos definitely watch those first because I go through the theory of what we’re about to do and this is more like how to do the execution that being said this is WI number eight and I’m feeling okay we’ve done seven so far I’ve gotten five of seven yeah let’s say four and a half I’ve gotten really close on all the ones I missed which also I haven’t been way off on anything yet knock on woods I’ve got a red wine in front of me we don’t know what it is let’s do it from a color perspective kind of a ruby to Red it’s not red like pin noir red but there’s like some glimmers of red I think Ruby is probably probably about right I don’t see any kind of Amber or garnet colors that would lead need to believe that we’ve got like some age on it or tremendous amount of oxygen I always say the first sniff most important it’s your gut here we go the first thing I get some baking spice some smoke and some baking spice but not like super intense leads me to believe that there’s some used oak on this maybe some new Oak from a color from an intensity standpoint I didn’t mention this but like it’s right in the middle it’s it’s you can see kind of the writing a little bit through the through the glass and the nose I get about the same amount of intensity right I get about a medium intensity here where’s the fruit character it’s like dark red dark red to Black you know black cherry black raspberry and then maybe some things on the lighter side of the black fruit Spectrum tartar black berry and and ciss and things like that any other giveaways any other flavors nonf fruit flavors that we should talk about I mentioned that baking spice and that’s kind of smoke already like a woodiness maybe a bit of leather uh fruit character to me just seems kind of ripe maybe slightly under rpe I’ll know more once I get on the pette this is going to be a tough one do I get anything new on the palette any new flavors not really I’m still kind of in dark red fruit land not bright red fruits not Bing Cherry not sour cherry dark red fruit leaning a little in the black but not a ton so no I don’t get anything new and the baking spice still there structure tannin there is tannin I say medium acidity medium plus kind of make my mouth salvate of it body medium minus pretty light alcohol medium this is tough this isn’t like a super light wine when you get a super light wine or super heavy wine or ones with like for instance we had the Bro earlier in the season right the tan was so high it’s a giveaway this has no dead giveaways for me of what it could be so this is going to be tough finishing complexity and this will tell us a bit about our quality and how much I’m going to guess uh this you know this wine cost not very much of either I mean medium on medium it’s it’s not bad add but I’m not talking about a whole bunch of different flavors um but I mentioned a few different things mentioned the fruit mentioned the smoke mentioned the leather uh and then finished medium tasting a little I did get one important flavor that I think I need to mention for sure which is a bit of greenness bit of vegetal green bit like that bell pepper thing not so much that it would be cab FR but there’s other grapes that can have that Cabernet can have that and so can carier yeah honestly now that I’m tasting it I can’t not taste it let’s talk about old world or New World always the toughest part for me I mentioned some Earth and I’m getting some smoke smoke can be you know that’s an usually an oak thing I don’t know if I’m I I think I’m getting more fruit than Earth ah I don’t know there’s some minerality too there’s some earthiness too maybe like some gravel but maybe I’m just talking myself into that let’s put a pin in that what have been in that cool climate or War climate I think it’s fairly cool because the acidity is medium plus the body’s kind of light alcohol’s not too high I said medium uh so I think this is a cool climate all right let’s talk about what grapes it could be could it be cab 7on yes we’ll come back to that could it be Cabernet Fran maybe we’ll come back to that could it be carier maybe quick note you’ll hear me say carier a few times in this video and I apologize but it’s actually pronounced carire less of a harsh Y sound I think it’s just my Midwest accent that I need to work on it’s a small correction but I didn’t want you going around making the same mistake as me Amron no could it be gay n it doesn’t have that strawberry doesn’t have that bubble gum the Tannon structure is a little too high for gay could it be a GSM I don’t think the body is big enough it doesn’t have enough complexity from the different grapes blending together could it be a malbeck no I don’t think it’s malbeck I wouldn’t it could be but I don’t get the purple purple malc’s a purple lne I I don’t get any of the purple character the blue the blue fruit could be Mero maybe it’s a lean Mero if it’s Mero but it could be Mero mayolo no Tannon is not high enough P Noir PIR is a chameleon it could always be Pino Noir P Noir is so versatile right like you could have really rich pinoir you can never Earth P Noir so yes it could be P Noir God this is going to be a hard one could it be shanu I’m not getting that rustic character that I would expect from sanio V so no I don’t think it could be sanio V also I think the body and then structure would be a bit more there could it be sarra I don’t think so no I didn’t talk about pepper right which is a Hallmark sarra character could it be tempero no American Oak no coconut no Dill no I don’t think it’s tempero and also the fruit character is a little too developed for that could it be Zen it’s not really big enough to be Zen so we’re down to Cabernet saon Cabernet Fran carier Mero and P Noir I got a greenness could you theoretically have greenness and P Noir sure but not typically so I’m I’m going to go to the wines that could have some green in them cabinet San cabinet Fran cuz they’re in the same family carier and Mero that’s what I’m going with and what’s going to help me determine now if I determine it’s old old world or new world I can eliminate some options so let’s go back to that man as it opens up the greens coming through more and the fruits coming through more I think I know what it is or I think I know what my guest is going to be I think this is carier because having this much green in a wine you can have it in in Mero but it’s like in Menthol land and it’s not in Menthol land it’s in bell pepper land and the only wines that have that are carier South American Cabernet svon and Cabernet Franc but it’s not Cabernet Fran because it’s not giving me the earthiness I would expect from Old World Cabernet Fran the Tannon is too high so we’re down to South American Cabernet San carier and that’s it as we’re down to and I think it’s a new world wine the only thing that makes me think it’s not a new world wine is the body is made maybe you know I would expect be a bit richer it’s just so green that super greenness it can come from cabernet sanon from South America but it’s much more present in Carmenere there’s also a freshness to this that I think is indicative of mountains like higher elevation cuz it’s got tannin but it still has freshness so that to me says South America as well I don’t think it has enough body to be Cabernet svon I don’t think it has enough tanon to be Cabernet saon I think this is carier from the myo Valley that’s what I think great carier place myo and Chile quality or Price a lot of good value Wines in Chile so I’m going to say this is a $17 bottle of wine this is a young wine I’m not getting a ton of development I’m going to say 2020 2021 I’m going to say a 2021 Harmon year in the Mel Valley and chili $17 Final Answer lock it in lock it in Lock and loaded We Ready kind of excited on this one I’m more excited to see that this is than a lot of the other wines especially all the other red wines we’ve had because it could go a couple different ways I think if it’s Mero or Cabernet I won’t be shocked but I just didn’t get the body or I’ll stop talking here we go hey it’s Carmen here Bingo and it’s from myo and I’m only one year off I guess 2020 I switched it 2021 either way I just knew it was less than 5 years yeah man the signature green character but accompanied with a freshness that comes from that higher elevation Mountain area and also so it didn’t have the body and the weight and the Tannon structure of a Cabernet and it didn’t the plumbness and the plushness of Mero so it really left me with only only carier left to go I don’t know if I gave an alcohol level but yeah 14% I’m happy man I’m doing I’m I’m doing all right I don’t often give myself props but I’m going to here not only did I get the answer right I got the price right it was $17.99 and I called it it was a high elevation Mountain wine you can see on the label it says Dio Andis which means the grapes were grown near the east side of the myo along the Andes Mountains not too shabby good good wine I love carier a lot of people don’t drink it I’m hoping we’re going to Chile soon doing an episode there we can talk more about it because it’s a great one wine it’s fresh it’s a good food wine I like the greenness to it not some people are are kind of you know opposed that but I love the greenness of carier overall really solid very happy one more to go this season thanks for watching we’ll do it again next time [Music]

Blind-tasting wine is all about practice, so in “Vino Blind,” let’s practice together! This is a fun exercise, especially if you’re preparing for sommelier exams like those from the Court of Master Sommeliers or WSET. I’ll guide you through the blind-tasting process—from looking at the wine to smelling and tasting it. I’ll share my thoughts along the way so you can join in on the guessing game too! We’ll start by observing the wine’s color, flavors (like cherry, roses, or smokiness), and structure (acidity, tannins, alcohol, body, and sweetness). Then comes the exciting part: guessing the grape variety, origin, price, and vintage. Finally, learning from each tasting, we’ll reveal the wine and see how accurate our guesses were. Watch to find out if I get it right!

Enjoy the show? We’re independently owned and produced and would LOVE your support! https://www.visforvino.com/vino-vip
__________________________

Some helpful links:
Wine/Answer (DON’T CLICK unless you want to know the answer): https://tinyurl.com/5c4b6n5e

Our How to Blind Taste Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XglPTBk9VQw

The CMS Tasting Grid: https://www.mastersommeliers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CMS-A-Certified-Sommelier-Deductive-Tasting-Grid.pdf

List of CMS Advanced Level Wines: https://www.mastersommeliers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CMS-A-Advanced-Sommelier-Level-Wine.pdf

___________________
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Sight
01:07 Nose
02:06 Palate
03:28 Initial Conclusion
07:34 Conclusion
08:20 Reveal
___________________________

Possible grapes and places:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Bordeaux – Graves / Haut-Médoc
Australia – Barossa / Coonawarra / Margaret River / McLaren Vale
Chile – Curicó / Maipo / Maule / Rapel
USA – Napa / Sonoma / Central Coast

Cabernet Franc
Loire Valley – Bourgueil / Chinon / Samur-Champigny

Carménère
Chile – Curicó / Maipo / Maule / Rapel

Corvina
Italy – Amazon della Valpolicella

Gamay
Loire Valley, FR – Cru Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages

GSM (CDP, Giogondas, Vaq)
Rhône Valley, FR – Châteauneuf-du-Pape / Gigondas / Vacqueyras

Malbec
Mendoza, Argentina

Merlot (BDX or CA or WA)
Bordeaux – Pomerol / St-Émilion

Nebbiolo
Piedmont, IT – Barolo / Barbaresco

Pinot Noir (Burg, CA, NZ)
Burgundy, FR – Côte d’Or – Village / Premier Cru Grand Cru
USA – Anderson Valley / Carneros / Central Coast / Sonoma Coast / Sonoma Valley / Willamette Valley
New Zealand – Central Otago / Martinborough

Sangiovese (Brun or Chianti)
Brunello di Montalcino, IT
Chianti, IT – Classico / Gran Selezione / Riserva / Ruffina

Syrah (Rhone, Aus, CA or WA)
France – Northern Rhône Valley
Australia – South Australia / Victoria / Western Australia
USA – Central Coast / Sonoma County / Columbia Valley

Tempranillo (Ribera or Rioja)
Spain -Ribera del Duero / Rioja (Crianza, Reserva, or Gran Reserva)

Zinfandel
USA – Napa Valley / Paso Robles / Sonoma Count

___________________
ABOUT V IS FOR VINO: Wish learning about wine was easier? It’s fun AND easy with your personal sommelier, travel guide, and host, Vince! Join him as he travels the world of wine – eating, drinking, and breaking down wine topics for you up close and personal!

Want to know more? On each episode of V is for Vino, you’ll:

– Meet a winemaker and learn their story. One of the best parts of drinking wine is getting to know the place where it came from and the people who made it!

– Learn about the grapes. Vince breaks down wine topics easily, making them fun and easy to understand!

– Visit the region. Not everyone gets to travel to wine country as much as they’d like, so experience the beauty and culture firsthand with Vince. Travel the world and sip along from the comfort of your couch!

– Cook dishes that pair at a local restaurant because what’s good wine without good food? Luckily, the world of wine is full of amazing chefs and restaurants ready to serve up something delicious to pair with the wine you just learned about.
___________________

And just because an episode ends doesn’t mean the fun stops there. Next, you can:

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! https://bit.ly/3xxH7eT

JOIN VINO VIP to watch episodes ad-free, get early access to new videos, exclusive VIP members-only content, virtual zoom wine tastings with Vince, and fun giveaways! https://www.visforvino.com/vino-vip

Follow us on Instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/visforvino

Let’s be friends on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/visforvino

© 2023 V IS FOR VINO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED