Image from Napa Valley Wine Academy
Imagine sitting down and having three identical-looking glasses of wine in front of you. All pale, yellow tones with nothing that immediately jumped out as clues to varietal, origin, and vintage. Then, being asked to identify all of those characteristics, along with providing an overall quality assessment, and being graded on your answers!
This is what future sommeliers and wine industry students at the Napa Valley Wine Academy are challenged to do at the Monday Blind Tasting. And, as a wine brand who submitted a wine to be tasted and evaluated as part of the blind tasting in early December, I was holding my breath. It was a moment of truth to see how our newly released 2023 Sol Rei Sauvignon Blanc performed in a blind tasting compared to other established premium wines.
As a fly on the wall in the back of the room, I scrambled to write down their comments for all three wines because I had no idea which wine was the Sol Rei Wine. As “Wine 2” was discussed noting “green pepper aroma” and “herbaceous” by the expert cadre of palettes, I broke out in a sweat desperately hoping that this was not my wine. Thankfully, at the end of class reveal, I learned that “Wine 3” was the 2023 Sol Rei Sauvignon Blanc, winning top accolades with “nicest floral nose”, “pronounced flavors of nectarine”, “balanced acidity”, “very good quality” and “shows full ripeness”.
Victory is sweet! Or more precisely, reminiscent of citrus blossoms on the nose and ripe peaches on the palette.
Cheers! *Ting Ting*
Katherine
