What a great night Friday was at the Graileys’ Holiday Party! Judging started in advance this year so that members were able to enjoy their wines by the time the party started. This was my first time sitting in the judges’ panel this year and quite an honor it was to sit amongst Dallas’ greatest somms. The blind tasting was a lot different than the official blind tasting format I am used to through the Court of Masters Sommelier as we were not tasting to identify the wine (although of course we did); but we were tasting to decipher the quality of each individual wine based on the nose, the palate, and its complexity and finish or the lack there-of. We tackled 27 bottles in teams, made individual marks 1-10 (10 hitting the holy grail and 1 being like late-and-off vintage Liebfraumilch), then tallied our scores to produce the final results. We all had our personal favorites, but the winner was the last bottle from this grand flight: a bottle of 1978 Cos D’Estournel. It was the one and only wine where as soon as we nosed it, tasted it, and let the finish finally subside, we all said, “This is the one! This wine is AWESOME!!” The wine showed more profound notes besides ‘awesome’ with soft earth, dried black tea leaves, leather, and dried spice in the silky mid-palate with subtle hints of ripe black cherries and dried herbs within.
It was a great night on Friday, and an experience I will never forget. It was fun to be able to choose a best amongst the best, but the wines showed themselves and the winning bottle was undisputedly showing better than the rest. The caliber of wines were outstanding that night and I was thrilled to be on the judging panel. The bottles are listed below in no particular ranking, announcing only the top ten for your enjoyment.
Graileys’ Holiday Party Wines
#1- 1978 Cos D’Estournel- 111 points: Wine #27
#2- 2005 Bionic Frog Walla Walla Syrah- 106 points: Wine #11
#3- 2000 Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon- 102 points: Wine #10
#3- 1967 Inglenook Napa Cabernet Sauvignon- 102 points: Wine #12
#5- 1999 Dunn Napa Cabernet Sauvignon- 96 points: Wine #20
#6- 2009 Alpha Omega Napa Reserve- 94.5 points: Wine #9
#7- 1983 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo Barbaresco- 94 points: Wine #21
#8- 1990 Haut Brion- 92 points: Wine #6
#10-2004 SQN Into the Dark- 90 points: Wine #5
#10-2005 Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Estate Syrah- 90 Points: Wine #22
1997 Vieux Chateau Certan- Wine 1
1998 Opus One- Wine 2
2004 Argor Martucci Odyssey Reserve- Wine 3
2001 Penfolds Bin 707- Wine 4
2002 Staglin Family 20th Anniversary Est Cabernet- Wine 7
2012 Del Dotto ‘The Beast’ Cab- Wine 8
2002 J. Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche- Wine 13 (Corked)
1982 Lynch Bages- Wine 14
2012 Sadie Family Pofadder Cinsault- Wine 15
2009 Domaine Serene Coeur Blanc Pinot Noir- Wine 16
1997 Tignanello- Wine 17
2010 The Grade Winfield Vineyard Napa Cab- Wine 18
2001 Cave Dog Napa Reserve Red- Wine 19
1994 Chateau Montelena Cab- Wine 23
2009 Chateau Clinet- Wine 24
2008 BDX Fleury Estate BDX Howell Mnt Red- Wine 25
2006 Rockroom White Hawk Vnryd Santa Barbara Syrah- Wine 26
