Dry v Sweet Blind Tasting

[DRT]

Incompetently split from this thread by DRT.

At some stage I think we should do a blind double-vertical of Dow v. Graham’s (or another suitably sweet house) to see...

That is quite the most splendid idea I have heard for a very long time. New thread?

At some stage I think we should do a blind double-vertical of Dow v. Graham’s (or another suitably sweet house) to see...

That is quite the most splendid idea I have heard for a very long time. New thread?

Sounds good. Do you wish to do the honours? (Though the first question might be whether this should be a revisit of the 63, 66, 70, 77 quadrille tasting...)

[Chris Doty]

Sounds splendid!

[JacobH]

If we do this, we would have to give some thought to choosing combinations of bottles where the stylistic differences are pre-eminent. I think 1955 v 1955, 1963 v 1963, 1966 v 1966 and 1970 v 1970 would all work but the more modern years might be trickier. 1977 v 1977 would be problematic because the Dow will be corked ( ). 1980 v 1980 will also be problematic because the Dow 1980 will be about 50% darker than the Graham. There might be a smaller problem with 1983 since the Dow is quite sweet.

Any thoughts?

[Alex Bridgeman]

1977 v 1977 would be problematic because the Dow will be corked

I'm working on a solution for that and later in the year should have a magnum of Dow 1977 which could be used for a tasting like this - but would have to be matched against a magnum of Graham 1977 or it wouldn't be a fair comparison. Anyone got a magnum of Graham 1977 they'd be willing to use for this tasting...

[WS1]

Hi Alex,

as far as I remember I should have 2 Grahams 1977 Magnums, but need to be checking. You know that I am sometimes not the most organised person when it comes to wine/port.
On the other hand I tend not to forget things and also usually I refind them again when I have misplaced them in one of my cellars/docking stations on this planet.

regards

WS1

[JacobH]

1977 v 1977 would be problematic because the Dow will be corked

I'm working on a solution for that and later in the year should have a magnum of Dow 1977 which could be used for a tasting like this - but would have to be matched against a magnum of Graham 1977 or it wouldn't be a fair comparison. Anyone got a magnum of Graham 1977 they'd be willing to use for this tasting...

Hmmm...a magnum solution...I like that idea! (Though, of course, if the problem occurred during the wine-making, we may not be in much luck).

[Alex Bridgeman]

(Though, of course, if the problem occurred during the wine-making, we may not be in much luck).

I've never read anything that would imply you can get TCA taint during wine-making. I believe (but would be happy to be corrected) that a wine can only be affected by TCA leaching out of a cork - and that the TCA gets there as a by-product of a combination of the sterilisation of the cork bark and a certain fungus / mould having affected the bark.

I'm putting my money on that all being true, in the hope that the bark used for the magnum corks came from a different tree or group of trees that that used to stopper up most of the bottles that I've tried so far.

[Glenn E.]

Not during wine making, no, but during cleaning of the wine-making equipment.

TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole) is a chlorinated version of the naturally occuring organic compound anisole. Anisole itself is recognizable as an anise seed-like odor.

If the winery's equipment (especially barrels or other wood) is cleaned with chlorine or bleach and not rinsed thoroughly, winery-wide TCA can be the result. This is generally far more rare than TCA introduced via the cork, but it can happen. The industry has switched to peroxide-based cleaning agents in order to eliminate this particular source of winery-wide taint, but others do still exist. Rubber hoses, for example, have an affinity for TCA which they can then transfer to the wine.