tn LAdies and Gentlemen

... welcome to the match of the year. In the left corner we have ... FRANCE! The match is in three flights - Chard, PInot Noir, and Syrah-Shiraz ... all tasted blind, of course. And here´s the bell for the first roun - flight. 1 c v light, no discernible highlights n laid-back, grbutty, perhaps a little honey - and green apples p comparatively (for a Chard) high, refreshing acidity, some length, less charaCTER. Overall impression (at a price of SEK 141) not a good QPR. mY GUESS WAS A YOUNG cHABLIS, BUT IT WAS Faiveley Bourgogne Blanc 2002. This would be the first disappointment we´ve had from Faiveley. 2 c also rather light but some golden highlights n oak, vanilla, toast, butter p vanilla sweetness, unctuous, buttery Overall impression (price SEK 140) better QPR than 1, and arguably less uninteresting Vintner´s reserve 2003 from Kendall-JAckson FLight 2: 3. c fairly light, no brick n immediate nose of strawberry jam, quite intense, but evaporates and is replaced by a certain smokeyness, toast, whiff of tobacco, caraway p attach is very dry, very strict, tannines are slight, the wine appears somewhat closed but with some length and, again, a whiff of caraway Overall impression (SEK 168 plus 1) this could be nice but would benefit from a year or so in the cellar. Even more from several years in the cellar. We identified this as a Savigny-le-Beaune and we were as it happens right. Joseph Drouhin Savigny-le-Beaune 2001 4. c quite close to 3. n animal (leather), mineral, green thickleaved spicy herbs. p attack with lots and lots of fruit, more accessible and open than 3. with a fruity sweetness. Overall impression: Xina thought it a bit artificial, didn´t care for it. SEK 149 Robert Mondavi Private Selection 2002

Last round was Syrah-Shiraz 5. cv dark red n very animal, possibly slightly tainted w bret, but this goes away on swirling. Honey, geranium, licorice p marked acidity in the attack (more than I am accustomed to in a Syrah), strong pepper, very good length, black fruits, quite dry, spicy. Overall impression: My favorite in this tasting. SEK 149. We identified it as a Croze-Hermitage, which proved correct: Guigal Croze-Hermitage 2002. It is indeed a proof of the general level of skill that Guigal is able to make such a good Croze in a year so deplorably bleak and diluted. 6. c almost black ... n pine needles, oak, jam, high alcohol? p small fruity sweetness in the attack, oaky tannines, balck fruits, very concentrated and balanced. Overall impression: Best of the Californians. SEK 155. Highly enjoyable and a producer I will look out for, to wit Geyser Peak Shiraz (Alexander Valley)

So, the match ends with a 2-1 to France.

Noir from Bourgogne, and from various overseas producers. The tasters were all professionals in the wine trade. Their mission: rate the wine, and, if possible, identify which are from Bourgogne, and which are overseas. How did they score? Badly. Their hit rate was exactly what you´d get by flipping a coin. It would appear quite obvious that these pros could not differentiate between Bourgs and PNs from Napa Valley, or NZ, or Oz. What was also apprent was that the wines they liked they tended to think of as Bourgs - even if that was not the case. With this in mind I asked the MC (a very send lady sommelier, Sofi Mölstad, and incidentally the daughter of our tasting friend Magnus from the Mickey Mouse group, Sweden is in some ways incredibly small) if she were able to arrange a tasting that would fool us - because, in this, noone was fooled - everybody identified the French as French and the Californians as such. She thought about it a moment and then said yes - provided she had free hands concerning price of the wines. In this tasting, she was bound to costs about c $25 per bottle. Food for thought. There may be a convergence between the old and the new world - whether for good, or for bad, self knows not.