Weekly Wine Quiz #29: A Guessing Game
I have to admit – I was beaten up by some folks for the last week’s quiz, denoted as too difficult. This week’s quiz will be a traditional multiple choice type, so will see what you will think about this one.
Nowadays, wine reviews are coming from everywhere. On a high level, you got Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, James Suckling, Wine Enthusiast, Stephen Tanzer and many tens of others, and then you got thousands of wine bloggers, store owners, educators, aficionado – fine, I know, you got the picture. All of the reviews are written in the context – here is a bottle of wine, and here is the review – so when you read it, it is easy to connect particular wine with the particular review. Now, what if we break the context link? How easy it would be to identify the wine just based on the review by itself?
Here are two reviews for you, both belonging to the “professional” category. First:
“bucolic, natural bouquet of bright red cherries, balsamic, mint and a touch of dried honey all with superb delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with wonderful delineation and supple, lithe tannins. The acidity is very well judged and it leads to a pert, tense finish of bitter cherry, loganberry and licorice. This is an outstanding wine drinking perfectly now, but it should age effortlessly.”
and second:
“deep red. Sexy, intensely perfumed bouquet of ripe raspberry and cherry with suggestions of potpourri, sandalwood and vanilla. Shows more power and darker fruits on the palate, picking up a touch of singed plum that adds a serious quality to the sweet black raspberry and cherry flavors without costing the wine any of its vibrancy. The long, sweet finish hangs on with very good tenacity.”
For the wine quiz, here are my questions:
Question #1: Are these two reviews for the same or different wines?
Question #2: Which wine do you think it is?
A. Burgundy
B. Super Tuscan
C. Oregon Pinot Noir
D. Rioja
E: Chateauneuf-du-Pape
Bonus question: How old do you think this wine is – approximately, of course?
See, it is a multiple choice, as I promised – but you will have to use the comment section. Just for fun, try to answer this question without using “brut force” methods.
Have a great weekend! Cheers!
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Talk-A-Vino 
#1 same
#2 A
Bonus: 2007-2010
Thank you for playing – answers are coming out on Wednesday
Funny, before seeing options I was thinking Malbec and Grenache/Garnacha. Since I am detecting a trick question in our midst….I say:
1. Same
2. Rioja
3. I was thinking 2006-2009 but since that was partially taken by Mika I will say a little earlier; 2000-2006.
Thank you for the fun challenge.
Malbec and Grenache would be fun too! Thanks for playing – answers are coming out on Wednesday.
I prefer questions where the answer is CSM Cab. 😉 Great quiz idea. I don’t know enough to guess. But I look forward to learning something new on Wednesday.
CSM Cab? Let me think of a right question… And this is just a game – you don’t need to know anything in order to guess : )
Awesome idea, this is just great!
Question #2 indicates it should be the same wine…and the descriptions can be brought together, I think. So I say same wine.
On #2: I am going for the super tuscan. The cherries noted in both reviews could be indicative of a certain portion of sangiovese in the wine, which is used in some super tuscans as well. The descriptions both make me think Italy…
Bonus: I would say between 5 and 7 years old.
Glad you like it and thanks for playing!
I like your logic – and the answer is coming on Wednesday.
That was always the fun part about blind tastings with my Japanese and Korean friend: You were allowed to make any claim, as long as you gave a reason for why…
I agree that the second question implies the answer to the first. I will go with Rioja as well. I agree with Whine: 2000-ish
well, I see now that I got a flaw in my “questioning logic”, and second question implies the answer for the first. I will twist it around for the next time…
Thanks for playing!