The Judgment of Graileys…

By: LA Perkel

Last Friday was one for the books. Virtually every member walked in with a bottle for the first ever Judgment of Graileys. On the occasion of our annual Members Appreciation event, we thought introducing a blind tasting competition to the evening would raise the fun factor just a couple of degrees. The idea was for members to submit an entry to Simon discreetly; there were no guidelines except pulling a bottle that one believed could win them a free year’s membership and more importantly, bragging rights for a year. The line-up was tasted double blind and only Simon knew what wines were going to be tasted with individual members only knowing what order their wine was being tasted. The wines were rated on four categories – Nose, Palate, Drinkability/Ageability, and Wow Factor. Each category carried point scores of 1-10 with the scores of the top three from individual tasters tallied at the end of the tasting to come up with the winning entry. So, as soon as the clock struck 6pm, the jury of three tasters (me, AJ, and Greg) sat down faced with a wall of brown paper bags concealing what we knew were some of the best wines in the world.

We tasted in flights of three and ended up with 29 bottles. After an hour and a half of slurping and swishing, Simon rallying us on, some members intermittently visiting the judges table and apparently some wagering was going on in the room, we picked our top three.

Mine were #19 (1999 Dominique Laurent Echezeaux/Dr. Ellis’ entry) which was simply on: Beautifully rounded out and textured; Spicy and floral. Tremendous length and nerve. Its structure balanced by flavor depth and fruit concentration. Impressive purity of flavors. Close second was #3 (1982 Pichon-Lalande/Kelly Alana’s entry). Flamboyant and intense on the nose with a complex notes of blackcurrant and notes of cigar box, tobacco, and cedar. Full and dense. Great richness. Undoubtedly an impressive wine but  1999 Laurent Echezeaux’ purity won me over. Although I have to say that until I tasted #19, #3 was my number one wine. My number three wine was entry #25; the (1986 Gruaud-Larose/Brian Teal’s entry) which awed me with its core of cassis fruit with secondary notes of earthy spice, smoky/roasted coffee, and leather. This was firmer in structure, chewier with more noticeable tannins than the 1982 Pichon. This to me is set-up for the long haul.

After much discussion and the final tally, it was time to declare the WOTN: 1994 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (#21: Keith and Jean Fisher’s entry). This was in my top 5. I loved the palate on this wine; resolved tannins, smooth-textured, Bordeaux-like with mature notes of savory dried herbs, earth, cedar, roasted espresso. Congratulations, Keith! Sorry, you missed out on this epic night, Jean Ann!

Below is a list of the wines entered and their scores…