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Tasting Game Results


Friday, December 12, 2008

All,
Thank you all for coming to our annual Xmas party at The Wine Bucket on Friday, December 5th ….we had the best turn-out and “tasted” more wine then we ever have. As a result of our little tasting game, we’ve had a number of inquiries about the wines on the tasting list. For those who had lost some of their ability to follow along by the time the game ended, here’s a reminder of how the game worked….

(Below is the text that was on the ballot)

“You will be confronted with a number of different wines tonight. You will need to sample each one. Once you think you’ve identified each wine, put the bottle number next to the name of the wine on this ballot. Hand the completed to one of us by 7:00 p.m. We will tabulate the wisdom of the crowd, bring the results back to you and ask you to pick again. The ultimate winner will be announced later in the evening and will be the one who correctly identifies the most wines. In the case of a tie…we have another game….”

(The numbers beside the wines listed below are the actual answers to the game….two wines are without numbers as they were “red herrings”, included to make the game more challenging).

1. 2006 3 Winds, Sauvignon Blanc, France
2. 2007 Cesari, Pinot Gris, Italy
3. 2006 Porta Reserva, Chardonnay, Chile
2007 Hook & Ladder Chardonnay, Russian River, California
4. 2007 A to Z, Pinot Noir, Oregon
2006 The Clancy, GSM, Australia
5. 2006 Cristobal 1492, Malbec, Argentina
6. 2006 Finca Antiqua, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spain

So as a reminder, we had nobody who correctly identified all wines or even 5 out of 6 wines. We had a tie with 3 people figuring out 4 of the 6 wines….two of those people, Aart and Jos Dronkers, though they came from the same marital partnership, made different choices…and still ended with the same result….leading us to comment that there are often instances where despite different choices – we arrive at the same place. Our third winner, who unfortunately didn’t read the non-existent small print, left before the prize of two bottles of Verve was awarded….and didn’t realize that you had to be “in to win”…..but Ranveig Borland does need to be congratulated because she identified herself as an expert and did pretty well at showing us that she knows what she’s talking about…at least when it comes to wine.

Some comments on the results:

There were at least two people who thought there were eight numbered bottles of wine….
There were at least six people who mistakenly identified whites for reds and reds for whites.
Correctly choosing the Malbec and the Cabernet Sauvignon was one of the most difficult choices with most people confusing the two.
More people were able to correctly identify the white than the red wines.
The “wisdom of crowds”, which summarized the knowledge of the group on a white board and showed everyone what the consensus thought the wines were, after the first ballot, actually did contain some knowledge….if you spent some time looking at it. By an ever so slim margin, more people chose the winning six wines than chose the outliers.

There was little conviction in the choices…many wines were chosen in nearly equal numbers, despite some wines being distinctly different from one another (i.e. despite the light color, cleaner finish of the Sauvignon Blanc, it was regularly confused with the Pinot Gris or the Chardonnay; similarly so, the Chardonnay despite its darker yellowy texture and buttery oaky taste it was identified frequently as the Sauvignon Blanc or the Pinot Gris).

If you relied on “expert” opinion, it was no more accurate than the causal opinion at correctly identifying the wines.
After a night of wine tasting….the definitive result is…..that more tasting is required…that’s a great outcome....I mean we’d hate to be so good that we’d have to stop!

In conclusion, we want to thank all of those who attended; we also want to thank Junico of the Wine Bucket for his wine picks…and putting up with our rowdy clients. And lastly, we want to thank all of you for making 2008 such a great year and we looking forward to seeing you all in 2009…..and at next year’s party.

Kindest Regards,

Jeremy
Director, Decision Frameworks