“Drink Yourself Blind” and Discover New Wine

One of my favorite ways to discover new wines is with unique tasting experiences.  It’s a fun way to share wine with friends and try something you may not otherwise.  This week, co-workers were in town and our friends at Bacchus Wine Market & Tasting Room set up a very fun tasting experience for us, “Drink Yourself Blind”. 

For the tasting, we were served 8 mystery wines ~ 4 white, 4 red.  We were provided a list of possible wines.  Of course, they didn’t make it easy, as each list had an extra wine that was not part of the tasting.  We were also provided grape descriptions to help us along.  Here’s the list of our potential wines with actual selections marked with (x):

WHITE:

(x) Le Capitaine Vouvray Chenin Blanc, France

(x) Cavallotto Chardonnay, Italy

(x) J. Rickards Sauvignon Blanc, California

(x) Trefethen Riesling, California

Lagar de Cervera Albarino, Spain

RED:

(x) Medlock Ames Merlot, California

(x) White Hawk Syrah, California

(x) In Situ Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile

J. Rickards Zinfandel, California

(x) Aster Ribera del Duero Tempranillo, Spain

The wines were served one at a time, starting with the whites.  After every taste, we each made a guess and then took the most common answer as our ‘team pick’.  After tasting all the whites, I learned, well… I really suck at this ~ it was hard!  I only got 2 correct.  Our collective team pick scored the same, and we gave mad props to our co-worker who successfully picked three.  I was confident I’d do better with the reds.  Not so much.  I didn’t get any correct (ouch!), and I once again matched our team score.  The best among our group was a total of 4 correct picks. 

I have convinced myself I would do better if the wines were tasted all together and I could compare side by side.  Then again, maybe I just need the practice, and should take it as a sign to share more wine!

Bacchus is holding the "Drink Yourself Blind" event on Friday, Oct 12, 4-8:30pm and Saturday, Oct 13, 2-8:30pm.  Tickets are only $20. If you are in San Diego during this time, I highly recommend it ~ tons of fun!

Sharing a fun wine tasting experience with co-workers at Bacchus Wine Market, downtown San Diego