Ok, here we go!
On the right is the
Gold Medal Winning 2012 German Muller-Thurgau (kit contained elder flowers). Four (4) judges, and their notes.
1) No faults; brilliant clarity; flowery aroma, clean, pleasant, delicate, fleeting, "honey mead"; smooth texture; simple taste, "sugar snap peas"; good lasting finish; 18 points; Gold recommendation.
2) No faults; "nice light yellow" color; bouquet of "warm honey" and "the smell of stir fry before you cook it"; "sweet & balanced to itself, almost desert without the heaviness"; texture "very smooth & buttery, Fat"; taste of "some honey, very nice & simple"; "nice ligering" finish"; "nice wine, good job"; 18.5 points; Gold recommendation.
3) No faults; brilliant clarity, "beautiful golden color"; "floral, fruity aromas, sugar peas"; balance sugary, "good acid, sugar laced"; "nice body"; complex, mulit-layered flavor; lingering finish, "would go great with Thai food"; "Very Nice, Yummy! Good Job!"; 18 points; Gold recommendation.
4) No faults; "bright delicate look"; "flowery scent after openning up, and a hint of vegetable but not bad"; "sweet sugary taste, low acid"; "smooth rounded and pleasant" body; "robust sweetness"; "nice pleasant finish, lasted well"; 18 points; Gold recommendation.
My comments:
Notice that several of the judges used the word "simple" while one saw this wine as "complex and multi-layered". I knew this was a good white wine, and expected a decent score.
The red wine is from a
Bronze Medal Winning 2013 Chilean Juice bucket of Cabernet Sauvignon. After this wine was fermented dry and stabilized, I added one cup of medium toasted French oak and 2.5 lbs of dried black currants. I racked it three weeks later, and topped it off with a half gallon of dry blackberry wine. I knew this one would be a challenge for the judges, trying to figure out the complex fruit flavors blended with the cab sauv. Three judges and their notes:
1) No faults; "great color"; "tropical, pineapple" aroma; "sweet!!! acid it is a bit low"; "thin" body; "very fruity" flavor, "residual sugar"; "not lingering" finish; "interesting taste, tastes like atropical wine"; 14.5 points; Bronze recommendation.
2) No faults; "nice, clear" color; fruity "pineapple, banana"; "interesting balance, fruit aroma and flavors"; "good" body; "blueberry" taste; "lasting" finish; overall "not appropriate for catagory but very drinkable"; 14.5 points; Bronze recommendation.
3) "Maybe has ascetic taste"; attractive, typical for type, "great purple color"; fruity, essence of "blueberry, pineapple, very tropical"; smooth, sweet edge, low acidity, "sweetness not appropriate for varietal, nice flavors"; "very nice body"; "fruity tropical flavors"; "soft finish"; "very drinkable"; 13.5 points; Bronze recommendation.
My comments:
Interestin indeed! Amazing that you can produce a wine consistantly labelled as "tropical, pineapple, and blueberry" out of grapes, blackberries, and currants. At the most, the wine is slightly off-dry (sweetened by the dried currants alone), as I added no sugar to back sweeten.
Over all, I am pleased with the information provided by the judges. Very close to what I expected.
