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Sibling Rivalry Napa Vs. Sonoma Zin..THE RESULTS!

Posted by: Becky on Jan 31, 2010

Tagged in: zinfandel , Zap , Titus , Tin Barn , Rustridge , Napa Zin. Vs. Sonoma Zin , Napa Valley Wine , Napa Valley , Kokomo , Fontanella , Dry Creek , California Wines , Balanced wine

Sibling Rivalry: The Results

I know everyone is dying to know about the results for the Sibling Rivalry Tasting so I’ll get right to it. The judges judged ten wines listed below in the order in which they were tasted.

#1 ’06 Woodenhead Martinelli Rd Old Vine Zin/Sonoma County/Russian River

#2 ’07 Bonneau Dry Creek Valley/Mauriston Vineyard/Sonoma County/Dry Creek Valley

#3’07 Robert Craig Howell Mtn Zin, Napa County/Howell Mtn

#406 Zahtila Dry Creek Zin, Sonoma County/Dry Creek

#5’07 Titus Zinfandel/Napa Valley/Napa Valley (grown upvalley in St. Helena)

#6 '06 Grant Street Vineyards, Napa Valley/Oakville

#7’07 Teresina, Sonoma County/Sonoma Valley-MacLeod Vineyard

#8 ’07 The Terraces Zinfandel/Napa/Rutherford

#9 ’07 Tin Barn Russian River/Sonoma County/Russian River-Glisson Vineyard

#10 ’07 Fontanella/Napa Valley/ Mt. Veeder and Oakville

Judges Pick: Titus

Highest Score: Fontanella

2nd place :Titus

3rd Place: Tin Barn

Highest Scoring Sonoma Winery: Tin Barn

Overall Valley: Napa (by one point)

This was also a competition for the judges. We tested their blind tasting abilities by having them guess the county, year, barrel program, blend, price point and AVA of each wine. After calculating their scores I am happy to report that Napa and Sonoma are in very good hands when it comes to our wine experts. Our top scorer, funny enough, is William Allen. A man who asked if he could refrain from the competition portion for the judges because he was afraid of being embarrassed. William is not a Sommelier nor does he have any other letters that he can put after his name. What’s even more remarkable is that he does not consider himself a zin lover. Yet he won by a fair margin.

Many of you are fans of KokomoWinery. Erik Miller is passionate about Sonoma County. While many of the judges were not able to distinguish between Napa and Sonoma, Erik Miller definitely knew his beloved valley, as did William Allen. When deciding on a barrel program winemakers might want to consult fellow judge, Andrew Healy, who guessed 7 of the 10 barrel programs correctly.

James Matusweski, along with Andrew Healy, can pick out a blend anywhere. Again, winemakers, you may want to consult with these two talented wine experts. Michel Rollan, watch out!

Sandrew Montgomery, your personal sommelier, focused more on his true passion, which wines go well with food. He chose Woodenhead and Zahtila’s Sonoma Zin as great food wines. I’m hungry just thinking about those wines and the wonderful dinner my sister, Gale Tyner, prepared for this event. Recipes for the Lamb and Pork will be posted on the site soon.

The most difficult thing to guess was the particular AVA. Of all the judges there were only 2 correct answers for this question, those came from William and Erik. What’s nice about Erik doing such a fabulous job with Blend, County, and being one of only two to guess an AVA, is that when you drink Kokomo you know you really are experiencing a point of view. Erik knows exactly what he’s tasting when he makes, blends, and releases his wine.

Overall, the judges did a great job. They have Efrain’s and my heartfelt thanks for their hard work, good humor, and passion for wine.

Now on to the public tasting. Unlike the judges, the public was not nearly as excited by Napa. The top three favorites were all Sonoma wines with Mayo and Viansa both coming in at number one. However, Chase Cellars was the favorite Napa Wine.

In 13 head to head competitions, Sonoma wines won 8 times. Even when broken down between male and females..Sonoma still wins. Some tables were very close, separated by only a point or two. Others were landslides.

I want to thank all of you who came out on this rainy night and participated in our first ever Sibling Rivalry Blind Tasting Event. A big thank you to James Berry who MC-ed, found us some sound, and kept things rolling. We had a lot of help but I need to thank Susan Hirschy, who always works selflessly and quietly behind the scenes without asking for anything in return and a big thank you to my nephew, Justin, who fetched glasses, set up tables, and poured wine even though he doesn't drink.

The next event is on February 21, Napa vs. Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon. We’ll be doing some fine tuning and tweaking to make this event more organized and to try to get the results out to you quicker.

Below are the wines that were involved with the public portion of the tasting. They deserve a big hand and your patronization. Without them, these events would not be possible. I hope next time you are out and about wine tasting, you’ll consider visiting these fine wineries.

Cheers!

Becky Tyner

By Table

Ballentine '07 Block 7 Estate(21) Napa

Kokomo '07 Perotti Vineyards (Dry Creek) (30) Sonoma

Z-52 '07 Brsdada (13)Sonoma

Saddleback '06 (14) Napa

Mayo '07 Ricci Vineyard, Russian River(22)Sonoma

Pope Valley Winery '06 Eakle Ranch (25) Napa

Benessere BK Collins '06 Old Vines(27) Napa

Harvest Moon Pitts Home Ranch (31) Sonoma

Chase '07 Hayne Vineyard (11) Napa

Strycker '06 Patti's Patch Alexander Valley(16) Sonoma

Pendleton ’07 (12) Sonoma

Benessere Black Glass (35) Napa

Zahtila '06 Oat Hill (15) Napa

Paradise Ridge '06 Hoenselars Vineyard(18) Sonoma

Tofanelli '06 Calistoga(8) Napa

Alex Valley Vrds Sin Zin (20) Sonoma

Pendleton ’06 Russian River Ponzo Vineyard (19) Sonoma

Z-52 Truchard '06 (24) Napa

Alex Valley Vrds Redemption Zin '07 Dry Creek (26)Sonoma

Rustridge '06 Zinfandel, Chiles Valley (28) Napa

Viansa (17) Sonoma

Peju '06 Napa Valley Zinfandel(29) Napa

Downing Napa

Sidejob Sonoma

Simi (39) Sonoma

Vermeil '07 Calistoga (40)Napa

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Sibling Rivalry Results
written by Robert Taitano, January 31, 2010

Hi Becky,
Sounds like all had great fun sorry I missed it. Napa by 1 point over Sonoma truly shows excellent Wine Makers on both sides. And congrats to William Allen, expertise need not a Title.

Robert

Owner
written by Karen Ritter, February 01, 2010

Becky & Efrain -- Thank you so much for a great night! I really enjoyed the tasting and looking forward to the next one.

My only suggestion would be for the tickets to be put in a covered box so one wouldn't be influenced by the ticket count or seeing the blue tickets.

Wonderful job! Looking forward to seeing you again!

Cheers,

Karen

Great Idea
written by Becky Tyner, February 01, 2010

Karen..that's a great idea. Thank you for the input.

Volunteer Wine Pourer
written by Chris Brown, February 01, 2010

Hi Becky, hey that was a lot of fun. I'll volunteer to do it again. It appeared to be a great success and everyone I spoke to were having great fun.

Owner
written by Harry Wetzel, February 11, 2010

Becky,
Very cool event, sorry I was unable to actually attend, but it sounds like things went just about as perfectly as they could have. Even better, I'm glad my wines faired pretty well.

http://www.iqwsf.com
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