Battle of the $50 White Wines
Wine Club Miami divided into teams and competed in a blind tasting to decide the wine of the night
On Wednesday, April 10th, Wine Club Miami showed up to compete. The eight-member club separated into four teams of two:
Jesus and Jeff
Wesley and Stephen
Shawn and Matt
Andrew and David
The rule was simple: Each team must bring one still white wine at ~$50.00 standard retail price. The club tasted the four wines blind, scored them and decided the winner. The goal was to challenge the group to find the best possible wine given these limiting parameters. Jesus and Jeff took the win over a close margin with Matt and Shawn. All of the wines were scored on a 1-10 scale but ultimately decided with a show of hands for ‘wine of the night’. These were the players:
Bodega Rémirez de Ganuza Blanco Reserva Rioja 2020
Jesus and Jeff thought carefully and brought a perfectly balanced white. This white blend is mainly Viura and Malvasia with other local varieties, sourced from old vines with an average age of over 60 years. It took the win. The wine was soft and mouthcoating with its medium bodied texture, but with a nice dose of complexity!
Hamilton Russell Vineyards Chardonnay 2022
This super young Chardonnay was the only New World showing here. Matt and Shawn knew it would be competitive, so they went with a classic from the Cape. It opened up beautifully over time, and convinced some members for wine of the night as the tasting went on. This producer is one of the biggest names coming out of South Africa, with vineyards in the Hemel en Aarde region on the coast of the Cape. An elegant yet strong personality with lime and pear flavor and a tight line of acid throughout.
Château Talbot Caillou Blanc 2021
A classic Bordeaux Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend had to make it in! Georges Cordier, the grandfather of the current owners of Talbot, was one of the first to replant white wine in Médoc in the 1930’s. With a majority of Sauvignon (75% to be exact), and a hint of Sémillon, Caillou Blanc is raised on its lees and has strong, persistent aromas. Wesley and Stephen brought this thinking odds would be in their favor, but Spain stepped on France in this game!
Bodegas Muga Flor de Muga 2020
David and Andrew also brought a white blend from the Spanish legend, Muga. It is a Viura, Garnacha blanca and Maturana blanca blend with citrus and white blossom aromas, and spice and a hint of toast on the palate. A beautiful wine from the team, but the temperature could’ve been a bit lower to show its full potential. It’s always more than just the wine…the conditions, like harvest, must be perfect and harmonious!
As always, we brought some additional wines to the tasting. We warmed up our palates with Champagne Henri Giraud Dame Jane Rosé Brut which pleased the crowd with its strawberry notes and flavors plus the whiff of yeasty brioche notes from lees aging. We ended the night with a 2022 Burgundy from Jean-Baptiste Jessiaume which had us thinking Oregon all the way, an extra white wine that didn’t make the cut called Foradori Fontanasanta Nosiola (an ancient white from Trentino, Italy), along with a final nail to the coffin, the sweet Muscat Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria 2021.
As we wrapped the tasting, Jeff and Jesus unwrapped their well-deserved prize: Aldo Sohm’s Wine Simple book, which is for every level of wine drinker and an easy-to-follow look into the world of wine.
Whether it’s going with instinct or thinking carefully about what you pick, finding the perfect wine is head scratching, consuming work. It’s the itch to do better next time or keep the winning going that makes Wine Club Miami grow relentlessly.