Blind Wine Tasting with Humble Grape
I recently joined Humble Grape for a blind tasting session, at their Islington wine bar, where we tasted four wines blind. It’s been some time since I’ve tasted blind and it reminded me how tricky it can be! Even when you’re convinced of the grape variety the doubts start creeping in that you’re missing a key piece of the puzzle that will scream to you what’s in the glass.
Is blind tasting just a party trick?
Blind tasting is a skill worth learning for anyone who drinks wine because it takes your enjoyment to the next level. Yes, it’s a fun party trick but it also allows you to work out what you enjoy about a wine, without preconceptions, and gets you out of your comfort zone.
A perfect example, was the second wine we tasted, a riesling. Unsurprisingly, one taster said: “But I don’t like Riesling and I enjoyed this?” Blind tasting opens our senses to the many different expressions of grape varieties, influenced by climate, terroir and winemaking styles and often allows us to be pleasantly surprised.
Tricks of the trade
As Carlos, our fantastic host for the evening, explained being able to taste blind is an invaluable tool for those in the wine trade. When buying wine, he doesn’t always want to be influenced by the price, producer or how fashionable the wine is, just what’s in the glass in front of him. This ultimately impacts us as the consumer, allowing buyers to sell wines that are chosen based primarily on quality.
Taking it to the next level
Tasting wine in a more systematic way is where you’ll need to start before graduating properly to blind tasting, in order to know what to ‘look’ for. Before you can start to guess the grape or origin of a mystery wine, you first have to understand what profiles make up that grape variety or style.
I studied at the Wine Spirit & Education Trust where I learnt to taste more ‘mindfully’. There are also loads of online resources - I love Wine Folly - but tastings are the best and most fun way to get practical experience.
For some next level tasting, checkout Geordie Wine Guide and his group of wine pals who are Olympic level tasters. I love seeing them get such a kick out of identifying a wine, almost as much as when they kick themselves for incorrectly recognising what’s in the bottle!
Use it or lose it!
Tasting is like working out, you have to keep doing it to get results. The muscle memory remains but without practice, you can’t quite grasp or access those smell and taste memories as readily. I’m often asked to look at the wine list and to choose the wine. I’m now going to make a point of not doing that so much. I’ll either ask my companion to surprise me, or the server to pick me something based on my preferences and food choice; to help develop my tasting skills.
The verdict?
I need to drink more red wine. I easily guessed the whites, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling but the Gamay and Malbec eluded me. Still kicking myself about the Gamay as it’s a grape variety I regularly enjoy. I don’t drink much Malbec, and it made we question why, so I’m already seeing the benefits of blind tasting on removing prejudice from my wine choices.
Humble Grape has a fantastic calendar of events at their London bars and these 45 minute sessions are a no-brainer. Bite sized wine tastings that only cost a tenner, which you get back in credit to spend in the bar or restaurant. What’s not to love? Check out Humble Grape’s upcoming tastings here.
