bkarney wrote:So was your Noir de Noirs even a choice, or did I make that one up!? Oh yeah, orange dot.... I'm afraid that I'm waay off on this based on other guesses!! ha ha

I think he said they were all "single-varietal" labels ... which would leave a blend like n-d-n out.

SonomaBouliste wrote:Methinks you're 99% mistaken.

JUST GIVE US THE ANSWERS PLEASE

SonomaBouliste wrote:Methinks you're 99% mistaken.

Whoops, I had the order backwards! Blue is Grenache, not green.

SonomaBouliste wrote:Methinks you're 99% mistaken.

jkwest wrote:

He's right. I was mistaken... about the order in which we sampled the wines at NoVA #6! The first one we tried I knew was grenache (having tasted it 2.5 weeks prior); I just thought that bottle had a green sticker instead of a blue.

well, great....now I know I was half wrong on my guess....

Loweeel wrote:He's right. I was mistaken... about the order in which we sampled the wines at NoVA #6! The first one we tried I knew was grenache (having tasted it 2.5 weeks prior); I just thought that bottle had a green sticker instead of a blue.

You can go ahead and change your answers here all you want, you can't hide the truth from WDs list :-)

andyduncan wrote:You can go ahead and change your answers here all you want, you can't hide the truth from WDs list :-)

Well sure we can, cuz he ain't posting it

Also, I propose an "advanced course" for the next time this contest happens, if it happens again.

Instead of tasting the bottles solo, you have to buy three sets and blend them together like so:

Bottle 1: 66% Wine A, 33% Wine C
Bottle 2: 66% Wine B, 33% Wine A
Bottle 3: 66% Wine C, 33% Wine B

Then you have to pick out the individual varietals and report your answers normally.

I think this should be compulsory for anyone who got 50% correct or better on this go-round.

andyduncan wrote:Also, I propose an "advanced course" for the next time this contest happens, if it happens again.

Instead of tasting the bottles solo, you have to buy three sets and blend them together like so:

Bottle 1: 66% Wine A, 33% Wine C
Bottle 2: 66% Wine B, 33% Wine A
Bottle 3: 66% Wine C, 33% Wine B

Then you have to pick out the individual varietals and report your answers normally.

I think this should be compulsory for anyone who got 50% correct or better on this go-round.

Oh that's way too much work.

cheron98 wrote:Oh that's way too much work.

Well, I'm planning on having failed miserably, so it's only work for someone else :-)

andyduncan wrote:Also, I propose an "advanced course" for the next time this contest happens, if it happens again.

Instead of tasting the bottles solo, you have to buy three sets and blend them together like so:

Bottle 1: 66% Wine A, 33% Wine C
Bottle 2: 66% Wine B, 33% Wine A
Bottle 3: 66% Wine C, 33% Wine B

Then you have to pick out the individual varietals and report your answers normally.

I think this should be compulsory for anyone who got 50% correct or better on this go-round.

I think I failed already, because I cannot follow those directions .

jwhite6114 wrote:I think I failed already, because I cannot follow those directions .

It would be tricky, imagine if SB blended 25% merlot into his Cab (the most allowable while still being labelled as a varietal), and then you poured a third of that out, you'd be at 16.66% Merlot, 50% Cab and 33.33% Air. If you filled that Air with, say 100% merlot from another bottle, you'd be at 50% Cab 50% merlot.

That would be tricky and you'd have to work with the other two bottles to determine your answer.

jwhite6114 wrote:I think I failed already, because I cannot follow those directions .

I think I'm the winner, cause I'm waiting patiently for the right answers to be posted so I can write them on the labels of my mystery bottles.

SonomaBouliste wrote:Methinks you're 99% mistaken.

!! lies and innuendo! L is NEVER WRONG EVER EVER.

oppsie wrote:!! lies and innuendo! L is NEVER WRONG EVER EVER.

:-D

oppsie wrote:!! lies and innuendo! L is NEVER WRONG EVER EVER.

I guess the important question here, then, is are YOU ever wrong?

jpkrause wrote:I have yet to open my bordeaux-shaped pink dotted bottle, which I guessed to be a Merlot. For no other reason that the dot is pink.

If it's a dot made by marking pen, it's orange. The pink dots are all paper dots, and on burgundy bottles.

Note to self: if we ever do this again, don't let the girls pick the colors, red and orange are a bit too close.

Loweeel wrote:JUST GIVE US THE ANSWERS PLEASE

It's out of my hands; you'll have to harass WineDavid ;)

SB - I wanted to make sure that you got the last compilation that I sent via e-mail. Let me know if it came through, or if I should re-send.

SonomaBouliste wrote:Note to self: if we ever do this again, don't let the girls pick the colors, red and orange are a bit too close.

Ooh, I hope so, this was really fun, even more fun if we ever actually get the answers!

SonomaBouliste wrote:It's out of my hands; you'll have to harass WineDavid ;)

Maybe we'll be able to coax it out of him in Vegas, if he hasn't posted before then

Corrado wrote:Along those lines, one of the early wine.woot offerings (JanKris) would have been awesome for that. There were 3 red blends. Each one was 50/25/25. One was Cab-dominated, another Sangiovese, and the last Zinfandel.

2004 Riatta
* Blend: 50% Sangiovese, 25% Zin, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Crossfire
* Blend: 50% Cab, 25% Syrah, 25% Merlot
2004 Picaro
* Blend: 50% Zinfandel, 25% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon

I don't know how good my palate is at picking single-varietals, but I'm pretty sure that teasing out sub-varietals is beyond my abilities. That said, it would be fun to try!

Yes! I remember that wine. That was one of my first wine.woots. I also remember only liking one of the 3. Let's see... ah yes at the bottom of my CT consumption report. Just like I thought- I loved the Riatta and really didn't like the Crossfire or Picaro.

Corrado wrote:I preferred the Crossfire. I've got one bottle of either Crossfire or Picaro in the cellar (split a case-purchase of the Crossfire with someone after the wine.woot).

For awhile I was running across these at my local Big Lots and I was picking up a bottle now and then for $4 or so. I have to say the wine really improved with same age. I liked the Big Lots acquisitions much better than my first run with woot (and no, not just because of the price).

But enough off-topic chit chat...WD tell me I'm right already!!!!!!!!!

andyduncan wrote:It would be tricky, imagine if SB blended 25% merlot into his Cab (the most allowable while still being labelled as a varietal), and then you poured a third of that out, you'd be at 16.66% Merlot, 50% Cab and 33.33% Air. If you filled that Air with, say 100% merlot from another bottle, you'd be at 50% Cab 50% merlot.

That would be tricky and you'd have to work with the other two bottles to determine your answer.

Okay, before all this hypothesizing about blend %s etc. goes too far - all the wines in the contest are at least 95% varietal. We wanted this to be as much challenge / fun as possible, so we didn't give a lot of infromation regarding how the wines were bottled and labeled, etc. I enjoyed reading a lot of the trains of logic (or illogic as the case sometimes was). The wines are all commercial releases with labels removed and replaced by "Duke" labels. To my mind, and nose, they are all true-to-type varietals. If people are taking their cues from oak or alcohol levels they could be easily misled.

WineDavid swears the winners will be notified before Thanksgiving and the "key' will be released while "W" is still in the White House.

edit: Oops, too much "infromation"

polarbear22 wrote:SB - I wanted to make sure that you got the last compilation that I sent via e-mail. Let me know if it came through, or if I should re-send.

M,

It is flat amazing! Did we really compile that many pages, or did you triple space? There's practically a book there. Thank you so much for doing this. Feel free to disseminate as you wish - it's public domain.

Peter

SonomaBouliste wrote:Okay, before all this hypothesizing about blend %s etc. goes too far...

Our nerdery abhors a vacuum :-)

SonomaBouliste wrote:M,

It is flat amazing! Did we really compile that many pages, or did you triple space? There's practically a book there. Thank you so much for doing this. Feel free to disseminate as you wish - it's public domain.

Peter

I'd be willing to typeset it, if needed. There are some on-demand book publishers, we could upload it to one of them and people could request copies as they want to or just download a PDF.

andyduncan wrote:I'd be willing to typeset it, if needed. There are some on-demand book publishers, we could upload it to one of them and people could request copies as they want to or just download a PDF.

PM me with your e-mail. (Easier than finding from rpm tour.) I'll send you a copy of the PDF.

cheron98 wrote:Maybe we'll be able to coax it out of him in Vegas, if he hasn't posted before then

Hey, that's one month from today!

SonomaBouliste wrote:M,

It is flat amazing! Did we really compile that many pages, or did you triple space? There's practically a book there. Thank you so much for doing this. Feel free to disseminate as you wish - it's public domain.

Peter

Dissemination in progress. We'll have a place to host for download before we know it.

You really put a lot of time into this. Big chunks for the blogs, and lots and lots of smaller chunks in responses. And you were not all of the 135 pages, since some were the questions.

Let me know if you have comments when you get a chance to review more closely. I assume that you are still extremly busy with crush and fermentation. So when you get a chance.

And get another Wellington offer on Woot. Down to a mere 40 bottles of your wine.

SonomaBouliste wrote:If it's a dot made by marking pen, it's orange. The pink dots are all paper dots, and on burgundy bottles.

Note to self: if we ever do this again, don't let the girls pick the colors, red and orange are a bit too close.

I agonized over whether the dot on my bottle was red or orange. I went with red -- I think.

UBlink wrote:I think I'm the winner, cause I'm waiting patiently for the right answers to be posted so I can write them on the labels of my mystery bottles.

You and me both

jwhite6114 wrote:I guess the important question here, then, is are YOU ever wrong?

obviously not. It is the gift that comes along with being MOT. I'm sure tmr would agree.

bahwm wrote:Hey, that's one month from today!

More even -- that's 5 weeks!

polarbear22 wrote:And get another Wellington offer on Woot. Down to a mere 40 bottles of your wine.

Ugh, no! Do not do this yet! I only have 19 bottles of Wellington right now, but I'm in no position to get more right now and I know I wouldn't be able to resist.

Ya' know, I guessed Pinot Noir on one of the colors, even though I know he doesn't make one.

-- T

timbyrd wrote:Ya' know, I guessed Pinot Noir on one of the colors, even though I know he doesn't make one.

-- T

You're bad. I'm calling Toby and telling him to revoke your Wellington club membership.