While I was on vacation, I got a text from Zach at Columbus Foodcast. He wanted to do a short phone bit w/ bit talking about some wines from Ohio that I like. Sure. Then I realized that me talking was not only dull but by the time that he edited out my inevitable cursing, all that would be left was, 'Yo. Kinkead Ridge Revelation and Ferrante Golden Bunches. Drink.' So I figured I would have Zach try these wines with me and that morphed into gathering a larger group tasting blind several wines from Ohio versus the rest of the World.

I pulled a bunch of Ohio wines from my cellar and went shopping for 'comparable' wines to face-off. What 'comparable' means provided an interesting discussion during the event. If we take the best of Ohio and match it with the best of the World ... Ohio gets creamed. No ands ifs or buts. Ferrante and N. Ohio is no Donnhoff and Nahe, just for example. What I mean by comparable are wines similar both in price range and aspiration. I matched the Ohio wines with other wines of a price point and that a consumer would likely be selecting by style and appeal. I wasn't very systematic about as I also looked at this as an experimental version of a more ambitious project.

I created seven flights where an Ohio wine was matched with one or two other wines and tasted blind with my seven panelists. The whites were slightly chilled, popped and poured. I opened the reds for just a few minutes before pouring - the idea being to replicate restaurant or home consumption. Cheeses and cracker were available and I encouraged the panelists to discuss each flight before each simply ranked the wines. Having participated in and ran wine judgings, I wanted to create more natural, more convivial arrangement.
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