We chose a great pinot vintage, the 1997s, and pitted four top Carneros pinots against four top Russian River Valley pinots. It confirms we live in the midst of two world-class regions, and yet even our panel had limited access to this pool of pinot. Temptation was never so cruel.
Blind tastings are often surprising when the bagged bottles are stripped.
Most of the judges were impressed by the quality of the flight, noting that pinot is a hard grape to master. David Baker, Pinot Noir winemaker at DeLoach's Hartman Lane facility. Martin was referring to fruit flavor, color and body. All the judges were surprised that they couldn't better detect the Russian River wines from the Carneros wines. Our palates are not to blame.