ungrafted class - intermediate blinds 10/24

25 Oct, 2026

did great today. got the varietals right (chard, riesling, pinot, syrah).

learnings

• old world leans secondary first (bigger delta from nose to palate). eg riesling Nahe hits you with petrol plastic while aussie riesling was faintly petrol but fruit first
• green hue in wine is causal with higher acid
• tearing H/M/L is overall speed/quantity, less about how thick the legs look. example do few tears form and the wine just runs down the glass? do some tears form and they’re kinda droopy? or do a ton of tears form and they really cling to the glass
• new world you will find more consistency from nose to palate
• when blinding focus on structure. aromas change (as wine heats up, by producer region for a varietal) but structure holds
• to gauge tannins lean forward and hold wine above front teeth, makes it more perceptible
• to gauge alcohol stand up straight take a sip and quickly swallow. feel the alcohol going down your throat, how far does it get? how hot is it? when you exhale do you feel it
• to gauge florals hold wine slightly away from nose. inhale with both nose and mouth!
• hot pink is a great color adjective for rim on some ruby or ruby purple wines
• syrah - holy shit the black pepper was so pronounced in the aussie shiraz. i could really detect it today. combined with the savoriness it really did smell like salami (pork log with black pepper)
• croze hermitage was natural and lots more around france these days. if they didnt fine filter use so2 it will be natty. i couldn’t pick out yet syrah characters here (savory black fruit) but apparently they existed

wines

(fun starter)

loved. flavor was like pernand vergless lots of mlf / light oak. though not as balanced as french wine (this fruit seemed unripe and overall quite tart)

1. Granville "Basalt" Chardonnay, Willamette Valley AVA, Oregon. Vintage not visible on label. Drawn from organically farmed sites on volcanic basalt in Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills; made by Jackson and Ayla Holstein.

flight 1 (riesling)

preferred german even though nose was so intense petrol. both dry with undetectable rs. german one was just more balanced, so much minerality, a little riper & yellow apple

2. Pewsey Vale Dry Riesling 2025, Single Vineyard Estate, Eden Valley, South Australia

3. Schäfer-Fröhlich "Vulkangestein" Riesling Trocken 2022, Nahe, Germany. Sourced from two GG sites, Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg and Bockenauer Stromberg.

flights 2 (pinot)

liked both. pommard smelled like a cote de nuit village. apparently cote d beaune pinots are bigger rougher than nuits

4. Domaine Denis Carré Pommard "Les Noizons" 2022, Côte de Beaune, Burgundy (Pinot Noir).

5. Cobb Pinot Noir "Wendling Vineyard" 2022, Anderson Valley, Mendocino, California.

flight 3 (syrah)

didn’t like any of these wines. aussie was like eating salami. croze smelled and tasted like fermented vegetables

6. Clonakilla"O'Riada" Shiraz 2023, Canberra District, NSW, Australia.

7. Domaine Les Bruyères "Georges" Crozes-Hermitage 2023 (David Reynaud), Northern Rhône. 100% Syrah, 20 to 30 year old vines; organic since 2003, biodynamic since 2005.