Oct

Blind Tasting Challenge at WBC 08

Michael Wangbickler on October 25th, 2008

That's me on the left. Photo courtesy of Diane Letulle from Wine Lover's Journal.

One of the many activities at the Wine Bloggers Conference on Friday was a blind tasting challenge. Everybody who wished to participate was give a test packet, each page for a subsequent round. The first round was two white wines, one Viognier and one Pinot Gris. Of course, we didn’t know that until the round ended. We were tasked with identifying the varietal of each. Each subsequent round was similar, but progressively harder.

I live for challenges like this, so was very excited to participate. I made it through the first round, then the second, then the third. I was pleased as punch. I had no notion that I would do so well. Then the fourth round, then the fifth. Holy cow. I couldn’t believe it. Then I made it to the semi-final round. This round required us to write a tasting note for two wines within four minutes. Pretty tough. The judges conferred on the tasting notes and announced the finalists. I was one of them. Woot! For the final round, we were given one wine and two minutes, one minute to evaluate it, and one minute to give an oral tasting note to the entire conference. In the end, I came in second. It was a close one. Doug Cook from Able Grape was the eventual winner. Congratulations to Doug. He did a great job. I’m just pleased as punch that I was able get as far as I did. It was great fun.

Tags: wine bloggers conference

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5 Responses to “Blind Tasting Challenge at WBC 08”

1WineDude
October 26th, 2008 at 7:15 am

Well, you RAWK, dude!
bob asher
October 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

As the bronze medal winner to your silver, I offer you my congratulations! I was in waaaay over my head, but hey I beat out everyone but you and Doug!

I’d love to chat with you about a couple of things that came to mind over the course of the weekend. Given your experience in the field that I’m sort of pursuing, I’d love to just have a quick conversation. let me know if you have a few minutes this week.

thanks

bob “the nose” asher
mwangbickler
October 28th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Don’t sell yourself short Bob. You did great! I’m happy to chat anytime. You have my card right? Feel free to call that number. It is my cell phone.
Diane Letulle
October 29th, 2008 at 10:10 am

Hey, glad you like the photo! The blind tasting was a lot of fun–I shocked myself by making it to round 4. See you at the next WBC, Diane