On May 12th we were invited to another blind tasting conducted by Dezel of Virginia Vine Spot. This time the wine of choice was Viogniers. Dezel had lined up ten viogniers for the participants to taste and rank. Among the guests were John and Megan from Anything Wine and Woodland Vineyards. Also in attendance were other wine enthusiasts. The event was held at Janet’s Java in Alexandria, Virginia.

Dezel and Niki provided a wonderful spread of foods appropriate for the evening. After hello greetings to all our friends, we enjoyed the food while reviewing the wine list for the evening. The wines for the evening were the: 2006 Yalumba, 2006 Oak Grove, 2005 Bridgman, 2006 Alamos, 2006 Horton, 2005 Veritas, 2005 E. Guigal Condrieu, 2005 Honey Moon, 2005 Waterford, and the 2005 Chester Gap.

Dezel began pouring and we began tasting and taking notes on each wine. After each pour we would rank each aspect of the wine on a scale and record our findings. Of course we also discussed with the group what we thought of each wine. Having plenty of complimentary foods helped as well. After the last tasting each member of the group was to guess the correct producer of each wine. We wrote down our numbers and waited for Dezel to reveal the wineries. With each wine Dezel revealed, we checked off the ones we guessed correctly and those we guessed incorrectly. In the end, Paul guessed the most correct and won a bottle of White Hall cabernet franc.

At the end of the evening we all were able to nibble on some delicious desserts and chat about the wines we tasted. We were all able to take a few home that we enjoyed. We were also able to taste Woodland Vineyards Viognier. This will be a limited production wine that might be released to the public in the near future. We felt privileged to be the first to taste the new wine.

It was a wonderful evening. The blind tasting process was a learning experience. We enjoyed the wines and the chance to catch up with friends. A big thank you to Dezel and Niki for hosting such a wonderful event.