Great Wines Australian Blind Tasting Results

Great Wines is hot & heavy in the middle of their summer blind tasting series. We missed the first installments but caught up with the Italian blind tasting a couple of weeks ago & thoroughly enjoyed last weeks Austrailian tasting. The tastings have been a blast so far & have been our first exposure to the blind tasting format. If you are unsure of what a blind tasting is, let me break it down for you.

All of the wines are tightly wrapped in bags & labeled with numbers. You get a tasting sheet with a list of the wines so you know what is being poured, but not necessarily, because you can't see the bottle. We like to try & guess the wine. We are sometimes successful & when we are, we get strange looks when we let out our boisterous "BOO-YAH!!" When you are finished, you vote for your two favorite whites & your two favorite reds & then walk next door to see the wines revealed. I don't know if all blind tastings are done this way but this is how Great Wines does it.

Last week's Australian winners - On the red side of the table, was a runaway, the McWilliam's Merlot, followed by Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz. For whites, again in a runaway, Cranford Viognier was first, followed by, McWilliam's Riesling.

We ended up picking up a bottle of the McWilliam's Merlot & having it with star anise scented beef short ribs for dinner. It was excellent with the tender, buttery, anise flavored beef that we picked up from the beef guy at the Farmers Market.

My votes were for the Lucky Country Grenache-Shiraz-Mouvedre & the Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz on the red side. We tried the Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz in New Orleans at the NOWFE. I loved it then & still loved it last week. Imagine bacon-wrapped-blackberries in a bottle. It is one of my favorites. On the white side I voted for Jacob's Creek Brut Sparkling & the Fonthill Verdehlo.

Out of the reds La liked McWilliam's Merlot & Paringa Sparkling Shiraz. For the whites she voted for the Jacob's Creek Brut Sparkling, also & the Fonthill Verdehlo. We share the similar tastes in whites.

The blind tastings continue Saturday, 1-3 p.m. at SALSA restaurant, 6150 Poplar Avenue in Regalia. This week is the Iberian Peninsula-Spain & Portugal. Drop by format, vote the best. No charge to attend.

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