Triangle Chapter, American Wine Society Serving Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC, and Vicinity www.awstriangle.org

Selected Tasting Results from Triangle AWS Chapter Tastings

The highest ranking wine in each tasting is highlighted.

September 2008:  Paso Robles

June 2008:  Southern France

May 2008:  Finger Lakes

The wines without prices above were not available locally to our chapter.

April 2008:  South Africa

The wines without prices above are not currently generally available in the USA.

March 2008:  Virginia (specifically the Monticello AVA near Charlottesville)

February 2008:  Northern Italy

January 2008:  Southern Italy

October 2007:  Halloweins & Hayrides (Attendees Supplied the Wines)

September 2007:  Syrah (National AWS Tasting)

August 2007:  Summer Wines

June 2007:  Alsace

May 2007:  Malbec

April 2007:  Cabernet Sauvignon

March 2007:  (Red) Zinfandels

Note:  The first four wines are readily available at wine retailers.  The last three are available directly from the winery, their mailing list, or the secondary market, although the Biale can occasionally be found at the best wine shops.

February 2007:  Oregon Wines

January 2007:  Grenache

October 2006:  Wines of Northwest Italy (The Piedmont)

September 2006:  AWS National Sauvignon Blanc Tasting

20 people rated the six wines specified by AWS.  No discussion was allowed!  The chart below indicates the wine, our average score, and our ranking of the separate vote for "liked best" (rank followed by number of best votes).  Since nationally more wines were tasted, those results are listed after our tasted wines, and the national average score (by chapter members) has also been added.

NOTE:  Separately, AWS Certified Wine Judges rated the wines.  With no disagreement (i.e., zero standard deviation), they all agreed that the Tohu, an Australian vegetative Sauvignon Blanc, was the clear winner by a full point (at 16.0) over all the other wines, liking the Geyser Peak, Babich, and St Supery as runner-ups (at 14.9 and 15.0).

August 2006:  Loire Valley (France) Wines

April 2006:  German Wines

Jerzy Buczak introduced us to German wines, and we sampled six of them, starting with the driest, increasing in sugar content and perceived sweetness.  Here's how they scored (average of 18 evaluations filed).  The scores for the Spätlese and Auslese varied widely, proving Jerzy's point that "you either love 'em or you hate 'em!"

• Thüngersheimer Johannisberg Müller-Thurgau QbA 2004, $14, 14.5

• Saarstein Riesling QbA 2004, $12, 14.1

• Schloss Wallhausen Riesling Kabinett 2004, $15, 14.5

• Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese 2002, $32, 13.9

• Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2002, $42, 14.1

• Niersteiner Ölberg Riesling Beerenauslese 2003, $30/half, 16.1

March 2006:  Non-California Pinot Noirs

Mike Crusenberry lead us through a tasting of seven Pinot Noirs, none of which were from California.  He challenged us with an interesting variation of a blind tasting:  the wine bottles were covered, but we were given a list of the wine names and detailed descriptions.  Our task was to match the wine to the description.  We didn't do very well, but we had a great time!

The tasted wines were as follows, served in order of light to heavy:

• 2004 Weingut Klaus (Germany) -- an instant winner as a before dinner wine

• 2003 Salenein (Argentina) -- good, but definitely needed food

• 2001 Greenhough Hope Vineyard (New Zealand) -- varying reactions to this one

• 2003 Hill of Content (Australia) -- pleasant

• 2001 Tsantali Naousa (Greece) -- not a favorite

• 2003 Chehalem 3 Vinehard (Oregon) -- the clear winner!

• 2001 Joseph Drouhin Gevrey-Chambertin -- full bodied

February 2006:  Rhone Wines

This month Aris Ragouzeos, a wine consultant for The Wine Merchant since 1981, selected wines from the store and his own wine cellar to educate us on the wines of the Rhone region of France.  Aris has been tasting since 1975 and has written wine columns, appeared on TV, and taught wine pairing and wine appreciation courses.  Here are the results of our tasting at the Hunsicker's home with 25 attendees:

September 2005:  Pinot Noir

We were privileged to have Doug Parsons, owner of cellarexchange.com, lead us in a Pinot Noir tasting at the Brack's house in September.  Doug travels the west coast to small wineries periodically and really knows his wines and wineries.  He brought us some interesting Pinot Noirs to taste.  Here's what the group thought of them ...

August 2005 Tasting:  Rate the Ratings

The August Triangle (NC) Chapter tasting was hosted by Michael and Denise Whitley.  With a theme of "Rate the Ratings," the objective was to see how our evaluations stacked up against those of critics from major wine publications.  The selection included familiar grape varietals to give participants a reasonable frame of reference for assessment.  Wines tasted were scored as better than (+), about the same (=), or not as good as (-) the critics' results.  All, however, were affirmed by the majority to be within one rating category of what was published.

* WS = Wine Spectator Magazine; WE - Wine Enthusiast Magazine

July 2005 Tasting:  Any White But Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc

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