Last weekend I ventured into the great unknown. And I’m going to anticipate my husband’s joke right now by being clear that I’m not referencing our marriage. Yes, his humor is that obvious ;-)

The unknown last Friday involved paper bags, a sharpie and some wine. That’s right; I’d headed to the local wine shop to test my vino prowess at a blind tasting. For those of you unfamiliar with the wine industry, a blind tasting is when you taste wine without any knowledge of it. You don’t know the varietal, the region, the winemaker – zilch. Your job is to figure out the answers to all those questions. Often, in a room with a lot of people who know exactly what they’re doing. Not that that’s intimidating or anything.

This was my first and I had not a clue as to how I’d perform. I mean, I’ve drunk a lot of wine in my day, but have never had to actually test my wine knowledge. There were 6 wines to taste: 2 whites and 4 reds. If you guessed the varietals of 4 or more correctly (at least we weren’t supposed to also identify the wine region – a typical test for a sommelier final exam), you won a special prize. I was just hoping to guess at least one and leave with my pride somewhat intact.

Here is a brief review of my guesses:

1 (White): Bright and dry. Refreshing and perfect for a summer’s day. Woohoo…I think I know this one! SB! (Sauvignon Blanc)
2 (White): Oaky character and a dry finish. Just about the only other white I can think of is Chardonnay, so what the hell, I’ll go with that.
3 (Red): Light and fruity, totally my favorite combo. I’m pretty sure this one’s a Pinot.
4 (Red): Hmmm. It’s red. And not a Pinot. And not a Merlot or Cab. Hmmm. Tempranillo?
5 (Red): Another hmmm. Smells like Merlot (raisins), but has a crazy loud finish with tons of tannin and a bitter (frankly, not so nice) taste. I have not an idea.
6 (Red): A big red. But not a Cab. Ahhh! What else is red and has some “umph” to it? Could it be Syrah? Definitely not a Petite Syrah…

That’s about how it went. As you might imagine, the ones I got right were the Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinot Noir. Yea, go me! The ones I got wrong were, well, everything else. Which included Pinot Gris, Sangiovese, Malbec and…OK this is sad…I can’t even remember it.

So, that’s a summation of my first foray into blind wine tasting. I have to admit, despite my not-so-stellar performance, I’m at least relieved to note that the varietals I did not guess are not a regular part of my wine repertoire. So it wasn’t for lack of noticing them – it was not knowing what to notice.

Which means, there is hope! And I dare say I might give the blind tasting thing another go around down the line. Maybe I can double my score and get a whopping 67% next time. Well, at least that would bring me from an F to a D.