Blind Wine Tasting
A blind wine tasting is perhaps the only way to ensure impartial judgement of a wine because the taster(s) is required to rely only on their sense of smell and taste to judge the wine - because the wine has been served "blind" without a visible label or bottle shape by which to develop a predisposition regarding the wine.
It is a well known fact that people are subject to being influenced by factors which may have no direct bearing upon the quality of a wine, such as the geographic origin, the producer, vintage, color, the shape of the bottle, the color of the bottle and the label. By serving a wine "blind" you are able to conduct a wine tasting which is capable of obtaining honest feedback from your guests without the prejudice created by outside influences of price, personal preference and other considerations.
The basics of a blind wine tasting are simple, the bottles should be hidden from sight by a simple covering such as a paper bag or aluminum foil. If you want to be truly tricky, pour the wine into black wine glasses so that the color of the wine is masked from view.
The movie Bottle Shock revolves around the story of British Wine Merchant, Steven Spurrier, who conducted a Blind Wine Tasting in Paris, France during the year 1976. The blind wine tasting organized by Spurrier compared top-quality Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from France and California. To the surprise of many, including Spurrier who sold only French wines, the California wines rated best in each category! This was quite a shock because at the time, France was considered to be the foremost producer of the world's best wines.
Challenge your friends to a blind wine tasting of "exceptional" wines of the same variety, but which are of different price points! It might be fun to see how much of the wine "experience" is derived from the actual wine and how much is pre-conceived by the bottle or design of the label.
It is a well known fact that people are subject to being influenced by factors which may have no direct bearing upon the quality of a wine, such as the geographic origin, the producer, vintage, color, the shape of the bottle, the color of the bottle and the label. By serving a wine "blind" you are able to conduct a wine tasting which is capable of obtaining honest feedback from your guests without the prejudice created by outside influences of price, personal preference and other considerations.
The basics of a blind wine tasting are simple, the bottles should be hidden from sight by a simple covering such as a paper bag or aluminum foil. If you want to be truly tricky, pour the wine into black wine glasses so that the color of the wine is masked from view.
The movie Bottle Shock revolves around the story of British Wine Merchant, Steven Spurrier, who conducted a Blind Wine Tasting in Paris, France during the year 1976. The blind wine tasting organized by Spurrier compared top-quality Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from France and California. To the surprise of many, including Spurrier who sold only French wines, the California wines rated best in each category! This was quite a shock because at the time, France was considered to be the foremost producer of the world's best wines.
Challenge your friends to a blind wine tasting of "exceptional" wines of the same variety, but which are of different price points! It might be fun to see how much of the wine "experience" is derived from the actual wine and how much is pre-conceived by the bottle or design of the label.