Wine School - Syrah/Shiraz Blind Tasting, September 12, 2013

 Theme:  Syrah/Shiraz-Can you tell the difference?

          With the summer coming to an end, I was ready to get back to reds so I wanted to try something we haven't done in a while.  I chose a wine that was the same grape but three different parts of the world-California, Australia, and France.  I wanted to see how  the difference in terroir would effect the wines.  Blind tasting was just going to let our senses take charge. Here we go!

The Wines

Qupé 2010 Central Coast Syrah

• Color:  Beautiful ruby colored, the lightest in color of the three wines.
• Nose:  Delicate nose with white pepper, subtle red fruit, earthiness with floral notes as the wine opened up.
• Mouth:  Medium bodied wine with light tannins, a long finish with pepper and mineral notes.
• Price:  $19.99
• Conclusion:  An enjoyable wine, definitely lighter in body than some California fruit bomb Syrah's out there. We all agreed this was our second favorite of the evening. It paired well with the majority of the evening's dishes.

 

Elderton 2008 Barossa Shiraz

• Color:  Dark inky purple wine with a hint of brown around the edges - the darkest of the three wines of the evening.
• Nose:  Very rich, dark luscious, red fruit that made our mouth water. Hint of chocolate as the wine opened up.
• Mouth:  A full bodied wine with tart fruit, and bigger tannins than the first wine as we expected by the appearance. A lovely long finish. Definitely a wine that will stand up to meat.
• Price: $21.99
• Conclusion:  Hands down this was the favorite wine of the evening. We all agreed we loved this wine alone as well as it pairing best with all of the food. We loved the luscious, dark fruit this wine displayed.

Chateau de Lancyre 2009 Coste d'Aleyrac Coteaux d Languedoc

• Color:  Dark purple
• Nose:  This wine had more musty, earthiness on the nose. Each wine's varied terroir has really come through on the noses of these wines.
• Mouth:  Medium body with big mineral and dark licorice on the finish.
• Price: $19.99
• Conclusion:  We enjoyed the mouth feel of this wine but felt it definitely benefited from being paired with food. At times we felt the minerality was too strong for our liking.

The Pairings

Cheeses

• Drunken Goat (Spanish):  Wow! This cheese was fantastic and definitely the best wine and cheese pairing of the evening. It was to die for with the Elderton Shiraz. Thank you Wine and Cheese Shop for recommending this pairing.
• Old Brugge (Belgium):  This cheese was delicious. It had a great nuttiness. We enjoyed it very much with the Elderton (not as much as Drunken Goat though) and with Qupé. Those overpowering mineral notes came through too much when paired with the French wine. 
• Five Year Gouda:  We enjoyed this cheese, but was our least favorite of the evening with these wines. Again it was the best with the Australian Shiraz, the fruit of this wine standing up to this strong cheese. It definitely was a no with the Qupé, but was a bit better when paired with the French Syrah.

Entrée

• BBQ Ribs:  Excellent choice for our entrée! We thought it paired best with the French wine, but Qupé was a close second. This was one of the only choices for the evening that we didn't enjoy as much with Elderton Shiraz.
• Mashed Potatoes:  Who would of thought mashed potatoes would be such a great side paired with these wines. We enjoyed with all three wines, it especially gave the French wine more complexity.

Chocolates

• Lindt Touch of Sea Salt Dark Chocolate:  Our favorite chocolate pairing of the evening-went will with all three wines.
• Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cabernet Matinee:  This chocolate did not work with any of the wines.
• Ghirardelli Twilight Delight 72% Cacao:  This intense, dark chocolate did not work well with the French wine, brought out the fruitiness in the Cali Syrah, and didn't work at all with the Aussie wine.

Conclusion

Beth:   What a successful wine class, cheers to Lisa! It is always a challenge to taste wines blindly. I find myself second guessing my answers like I'm back in school taking a test! This blind tasting really highlighted how terroir can affect the wine. The Australian, with warm sunshine, was big and powerful while the French and American wines had more of a savory aspect with spice and mineral notes coming through. I must agree with Mary Jo that my favorite of the evening was the Barossa Shiraz. It was luscious! And the Drunken Goat with the Barossa was out of this world.
Lisa:  Blind tasting is always fun- it's like a box of chocolates- you never know what you're gonna get!  Starting with the nose, each of the wines was sssooo different. From peppery to earthy to musty, the terrior made the difference.  Yes, the hands down favorite was the Barossa and we guessed that one right! As for the cheeses, the Drunken goat was the fav.  I was so looking forward to the aged gouda but was surprised it didn't pair very well.  The entree of ribs and mashed potatoes was best with the French wine.  We realized it wasn't a stand alone wine and the food sure brought out the best of it. Again, one chocolate stood out above the rest and it was the Touch of Sea Salt by Lindt.  All in all it was a fun night!
Mary Jo:  I love blind tastings!  It is truly a class where you have to really concentrate on what you have learned, to try to identify different characteristics that make up each wine.  It is also a time when you realize you might not know as much as you think you do!  These three wines were distinctly different.  My favorite of the three was the Barossa Shiraz.  I must stay, the Barossa paired with the Drunken Goat cheese was probably the best wine and cheese pairing I have enjoyed to date.  I was overwhelmed with how rich the wine tasted with this cheese.  It brought out a caramel/toasted flavor in the wine that was simply delicious.  It paired well with almost everything.  We have found that some of the cheeses, by virtue of their aftertaste, can sometimes make pairing difficult.  We definitely noticed this with the 5 year gouda.  The cheese is delicious, but the aftertaste does not go well with the wines.  The French wine paired very well with the ribs, and, overall, I felt this wine wasn't one that should be enjoyed without food.  The Qupe paired well with most of the foods and was the lightest bodied of the three.  It had a nice, lingering peppery finish, and was more earthy than fruity.  A wonderful class, with some great wines!  Of course, the company always makes it a perfect night!  Thanks, Lisa!!