6 Times Blind Tasting Changed Our Reviewers’ Minds
At a restaurant, pouring wine involves a familiar ritual: a sommelier gently cradles a bottle, showing off its label while describing the history of the winery and what makes that particular vintage special—some minerality, white florals on the nose, an especially great harvest that year—before offering a taste.
For Wine Enthusiast’s reviewers, the experience is often more akin to avoiding an open container citation: at least a dozen bottles tucked into brown paper bags, all lined up, ready to pour. That’s because we blind taste all of our wines in order to judge each bottle fairly. This process ensures that our ratings are without bias.
As you can imagine, this process yields unexpected results. Bottles priced under $20 (our Best Buys) can score just as high as those that fetch $500. Sometimes supermarket brands have also caught the attention of our tasters (ahem, Josh Cellars) and ones that might be outright dismissed by snootier wine fans are actually quite drinkable (that would be Barefoot).
Once the label is revealed (well after scores have been submitted), the results often surprise our tasters. Below they share instances where blind tasting changed minds.
An Undervalued Côtes du Rhône Turned Overnight Success
“While waiting to enter the annual Hospices de Beaune tasting, the owner of a small Côtes du Rhône producer, Domaine Clavel, approached me and gave me a big hug. Surprised, but grateful to have someone to taste with, I asked what brought her to Bourgogne. ‘To see you,’ she replied. I laughed awkwardly, unsure how to respond, but after the tasting, she revisited the topic.
She had come to thank me in person because the score I gave her helped turn her business around. This organic producer was financially stressed. Buyers were offering to purchase her wine in bulk, which usually results in slashed prices and ultimately would diminish her hard work. But, she refused.
Then, when my score came through, she was so moved. She immediately shared the news with a local agency and Costco, who ended up purchasing nearly all of her production.
She cried while sharing this story and I felt like I’d lost all feeling in my lower half. I’d simply been doing my job, but her story put everything into sharp perspective.” —Anna-Christina Cabrales, Director of Tasting
A 100-Point Wine that Dissolved Tasting Fatigue
“I am completely enamored with Palermo, but in July it can be a tough city to tolerate with the heat and the chaos, and if you have to taste through a couple hundred wines in the midst of that your patience can wear pretty thin.
After powering through 100 wines on day one and 90 on day two, I thought I was finally done, and was decidedly not excited when the somm came over to say I in fact still had two more wines left. Exhausted and cranky, I sat back down, turned to my notes and took a sip of the penultimate wine.
Whatever ill-will I had simmering vanished. I was overcome by the sheer joy of discovering something beautiful and exciting in this world that you didn’t yet know about and now get to spend the rest of your life enjoying. The first thing that came to my mind was the famous quote from Justice Potter Stewart on pornography—I know it when I see it. Turns out it’s the same thing for a 100-point wine: Francesco Intorcia Heritage 1980 Riserva Vergine Marsala.” — Danielle Callegari, Writer-at-Large
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A Bottle Sold in Gas Stations That Is Actually Good
“My surprise moment most recently was tasting two brands synonymous with big-box retail. Both have a massive presence in the market. Most wine professionals deem them formulated bottlings rather than earth-shattering complexity.
Interestingly, I have tasted one of these brands over the years in blind tastings. The scoring was honest and fair for the varietal correctness of the wine. The winds of change were upon us on this blind-tasting day because the wines showed beautifully complex acidity and a pleasant mouthfeel: no donut holes or sugary sweetness.
Imagine my surprise when the reveal was an $8 bottle (on sale for $6) of Barefoot Pinot Noir sold in grocery stores and gas stations and Josh Cellars Rosé. Yes, I tasted them twice because I thought I was mistaken. This is a testament to the availability of better source materials, a k a wine grapes, for better juice in the bottle and one cannot be biased in tasting. This shows there is something for everyone in wine.” — Tonya Pitts, Writer-at-Large
Discovering a Flaw—and Saving a Producer from Embarrassment
“About a decade ago, early on in my reviewing days, I was tasting a blind flight of Chardonnays, when one of the larger production-but-high quality wines tasted a bit off. It wasn’t corked, nor was it acetic, nor did it show any of the typical flaws we commonly find. I re-tasted the second bottle of the same wine the next day, and the effects were similar.
I decided not to review the wine, which we do for bottling we cannot recommend. But I also reached out to the well-known, nationally distributed producer to let them know in case they wanted to try again.
A couple of weeks later, they wrote back to thank me. Due to my tasting, they realized that the entire vintage of that particular wine had this specific, apparently mysterious flaw, and removed bottles from shelves across the country. I’d saved them actual public embarrassment, and suddenly realized that my job as a critic who tastes blindly came with an important consumer advocacy role. Some 20,000 wines later, I’ve never forgotten that.” — Matt Kettmann, Writer-at-Large
Discovering a ‘Life-Affirming’ Wine
“The moment I raised the glass to my nose, I knew this was not just a special wine but a life-affirming wine. Yes, to many, it is a hyperbolic statement, but to me, it is a reminder of why I chose to follow my passion for wine when I was 21 years old.
The wine rolled across the palate in waves, igniting every sensory synapse I have, an electric rush to the brain. After the first pass, I marked in my notes this was a wine to revisit, a wine that I needed to ruminate about to make sure it was all that I thought it was.
Well, it was even more than that. A wine that I can still smell and taste almost a year later. This is what wine is for, to inspire and invigorate to lift spirits and bring joy. The 2016 Produttori del Barbaresco was an affirmation, a reminder of why people make wine and why people fall in love with it.”— Jeff Porter, Writer-at-Large
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Gaining New Appreciation for a Classic Style
“While every reviewer has wine favorites, being a reviewer requires stepping out of one’s own preferences. It’s not about whether I like a wine or not; it’s about whether I can describe a wine in a way that would excite someone who enjoys that particular type.
For example, I don’t personally enjoy Cabernet Sauvignon, but I can review a Cab and describe it in a way that someone would be excited to try. In fact, I spend more time analyzing Cabernet than wines to which I’m naturally drawn.
Cabernet Sauvignons earn high scores from me when they are good representations of what the grape can achieve. Over the years of blind tasting, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover herbal, softer-bodied Cabs that are approachable and more my style.” —Reggie Solomon, Writer-at-Large
More Wine Tasting Coverage
- How to host a blind tasting party (aka game night for wine lovers).
- Is tasting 3,000 wines hazardous to your health?
- Why “wine twins” can confuse even the most expert tasters.
- Explore the Wine Enthusiast tasting room directory.
- These tasting rooms are redefining the winery experience.
- Sustainable design meets wine in these stylish, eco-friendly wineries and tasting rooms.
From the Shop
Wine Enthusiast Aria Short Stem Universal Tasting Wine Glass
The official glass of the Wine Enthusiast Tasting Panel.
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