Secret Wine Tasting - Blind!

Hey what's up it's Madeline Paquette. I am a certified sommelier and co-founder of winefolly.com where we learn by drinking. Okay you've probably figured out that today we're talking about a white wine grape. Let's see if you can figure out which one it actually is before I tell you. This grape originated in France. Okay that was real helpful. That's like at least 280 different possibilities. It's also described as having super green flavors like flavors of gooseberry, bell pepper, and grass. Okay next clue. In 1994 Dr. Carol Meredith discovered that this grape is actually the progenitor, the parent, of none other than the world's most important red wine Cabernet Sauvignon. You know it yet? It is the most important grape in New Zealand. What is it? It's Sauvignon Blanc. So for this tasting today I've prepared two wines. One being from a cool climate region and the other being from a hot climate region. See the thing about Sauvignon Blanc is it literally grows everywhere. You can find it in France, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Moldova, the United States, Austria, Switzerland, Spain. The list goes on and on. So the thing we look for when we're trying to taste this wine is the difference between the climates and where it grows. And we can do that through the flavors and colors and characteristics hopefully in these two glasses of wines. I don't know if I trust my palate today though. Quite honestly I'm a little bit hyper. Let's see if we can figure out which wine is which. Wine number one. If you can see the color here to me this looks about medium yellow. Kind of matches my shirt. Viscosity wise, waiting for legs. Here we go. Here we go. Looks about medium. On the nose passion fruit, peaches, apricot, subtle orange blossom. Very subtle notes of thyme. On the palate I don't have a dump bucket. Okay no dump bucket. No big deal. This wine tastes pretty dry actually. Flavors of lemon, lemon rind, passion fruit, and then there's just the slightest bitterness actually towards the finish. Very complex wine. Tastes pretty well crafted actually. Wine number two. Looks shockingly like the last wine. Medium yellow but maybe with slightly more green fleck. We're talking marginal. Wait for the legs. Here we go. There's some legs. Slightly less viscosity than the last wine. Let's give it a sniff. Whoa. Majorly different. Smells like bell peppers, gooseberry, honeydew melon, and I get this sort of funky freshly wetted concrete note that I'm a super fan of. Let's give it a taste. Okay on the palate it's like drinking bell pepper juice. It is green. It pushes forth flavors of like lime. More like lime peel. And then I get this finish that's like seedy. Like I was describing that jalapeno seed. Like it's kind of a little spicy seedy on the finish. In terms of body and acidity, I feel like the acidity is maybe even slightly less than the first wine. The big reveal. Two wines both alike in dignity and very different in taste. Wine number one. Boom. Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Wine number two. Cool climate. Where is it going to be from? Where do you think it's from? Saracen Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. So what do you think? Are you a warm climate Sauvignon Blanc or a cool climate Sauvignon Blanc drinker? What do I like? That one was pretty good. I'm not gonna lie to you. That one was pretty good. Very well made. I hope you enjoyed this session today. Have fun tasting and if you want to follow along, definitely pick up a copy of Wine Folly, the Magnum Edition, the Master Guide. Super awesome resource and guess what? It's totally visual. Anyway, until next time, peace out.