Grenache Wine Tasting

 

Dec. 27, 2006

We thought it would be fun to have a wine tasting. The theme was ‘grenache’. What if we explored just one grape? No rules on percentage of the grape, no rules on price, no rules on origin. A blind, pot luck, wine tasting of grenache.

Bit of background: grenache is the second most popular varietal planted on earth. No, I don’t know the firstest, most popular, google it yourself.  Grenache is also known as: garnacha (Spain), cannanaou (Sardinia), Granaccia, Alicante, Aragad.

This was a blind wine tasting…after an initial perusal of the bottles, they were covered and numbered. Then we tasted and voted. Following is a list of the bottles we tasted.  The number indicates the bottle number. The highest score was the winner. Or, in this case, it be da’ Bitch!  Apparently, we’re not the only ones to be liking da’Bitch.

1 Vangarra  Old Vine Grenache 2004  Australia #2  270 points

2 Condesa de Sarabella Garnacha 2005  Spain 

3 Tres Picos Borsao Garnacha 2005 Spain

6 Boones Farm Sangria

7 Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva 2003 Sardegna, Italia

8 Tes Picos Borsao Garnacha 2005 Spain  #4  140 points

10 McCrea Grenache Washington State 2004 USA  #3  260 points

11 Vina Borgia campo de Borja 2005 Spain  #5  140 points

13 Reserve Perrin Cotes du Rhone France

14 Almira Los Dos Grenache Syrah Old Vine 2005 Spain

16 The Lucky Country 2003 Barossa Valley Australia

17 Etim Old Wines Grenache 2001 Spain

18 Bitch Barossa Grenache 2004, Australia  #1  310 points

Congratulations to the Bitch from Australia!! You won by a long shot!

What did we learn? Grenache is a mild mannered grape. Its like Cark Kent, low key, until you need it and then it steps right up to the plate.  Cool way to study a grape, secondo me.