Tag Archives: Blind tasting

The art of tasting wine

Posted on September 12, 2012 by James

I’m now reworking, reposting and writing some new material for an international food and beverage site: The Rambling Epicure. Don’t worry, I’ll continue to post to the Oxford Wine Blog (more so once my PhD thesis is safely tucked away in … Continue reading →

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The Qualities of Riesling

Posted on September 11, 2011 by James

I recently presented a blind tasting of six different rieslings from around the world. In a similar vein to the Alsatian tasting I presented earlier, one of the aims was to explore the similarities and differences of wines with a … Continue reading →

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Wines of Alsace

Posted on August 7, 2011 by James

In the 18 months or so that I have been blind tasting, I have occasionally seen a (generally more-experienced) taster stick their nose into a glass and exclaim, “Smells Alsatian“. They then have a taste, swirl the wine around their … Continue reading →

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Essence of Condrieu

Posted on July 20, 2011 by James

Viognier is a difficult grape varietal to deal with. When ripening, the grapes rapidly build up high sugar levels, often before the grapes reach phenolic, or ‘flavour’, ripeness. The challenge is to achieve this phenolic ripeness before the grapes develop … Continue reading →

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d’Armailhac 1999 & 2003

Posted on June 17, 2011 by James

My notes on the claret from Pauillac, Château d’Armailhac, for the vintages 1999 and 2003. Tasted blind 13/5/11 as part of a Left Bank claret tasting. Château d’Armailhac 1999, Pauillac, Bordeaux. Medium-deep ruby in appearance, with a warm magenta rim; … Continue reading →

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Marlborough Pinot Noir

Posted on June 11, 2011 by James

There were six New Zealand producers represented at last month’s Decanter New World Fine Wine Encounter: Nautilus, Dog Point, Brancott Estate, Saint Clair, Mud House, and Mt Beautiful. The first four of these producers are based in Marlborough, and Mud … Continue reading →

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Six wines for summer

Posted on May 28, 2011 by James

Summer is for sparkling and fresh and fruity whites (amongst other things!).  Here are six wines we had at a recent “summer wines” blind tasting. Prosecco Valdobbiadene Extra Dry N.V. (Vettori). Sparkling wine, Veneto, Northern Italy. Very pale lemon in … Continue reading →

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Oxford Blind Tasting Team Victorious at SPIT Competition

Posted on May 23, 2011 by James

The end of April saw Oxford University send a team of three blind tasters to compete in the Sciences Po International Tasting (SPIT) Competition held at Maison Bollinger in Aÿ, Champagne. The competition was perfectly timed for an escape from … Continue reading →

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A sweet wine tasting

Posted on April 17, 2011 by James

Our coach and Senior Member of the Blind Tasting Society, Hanneke Wilson, treated us to a fantastic sweet wine tasting recently. I outlined some of the more common methods of creating sweet wines in a previous post; this tasting covered … Continue reading →

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Hilary Term “Grand Cru”

Posted on March 19, 2011 by James

Recently we were treated to another fabulous “Grand Cru” tasting presented by Neel Burton. An Oxford Grand Cru tasting generally consists of wines from some of the finest producers out there, and if we’re lucky, these wines can have a … Continue reading →

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