The Rules*:
1.) Each bottle will be stored at the same temperature until serving time.
2.) Each bottle will be poured into identical decanters marked "A" & "B" (a third party will do this so that the judges do not know which is which).
3.) One glass of each wine will be served immediately from the decanter and judged on its aroma, color, and taste. Each judge will mark which of the two they preferred in each category on their individual score sheets, without letting the other judge(s) know their choices.
4.) After one hour of decanting, another glass of each wine will be poured for the judges and again judged in the exact same categories, without letting the other judge(s) know their choices.
5.) A food dish will then be served to pair with the wines, and the judges will secretly score which of the two wines they felt paired best.
6.) The judges will tally their individual score sheets and reveal their respective winner.
$44.00
TURLEY! Yup, John scored the bout 8-2 in favor of the Turley, thus breaking the tie. There are a few things that are interesting to note though:
A.) Not one of the judges preferred the taste of the Turley in all three of the rounds (ie. all three judges preferred the taste of Justin in at least one of the rounds).
B.) If we were judging on the taste alone, it would have been a tie.
C.) After the competition, we let two of the Rustic Kitchen chefs taste each, and both preferred the Justin Cab.
D.) We all felt that judging the color again in round #2 was unnecessary, hence, we will do away with that category for the next Bottle Vs. Bottle challenge. In lieu, the tasting category in that round will count for three points, and can no longer be split (ie. can no longer be a draw).
So when you get right down to it, the REAL winner was US! We got to drink both of these bottles, which we truly LOVE, in one sitting! Honestly folks, you can't go wrong with either one of these- they are both truly exceptional wines!
*Note: these rules were changed after the first challenge.
CHALLENGE #1 : FEBRUARY 1st, 2016
2013 JUSTIN RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON vs. 2013 TURLEY ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON.
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OUR FIRST CHALLENGE IS HERE!!!
2013 JUSTIN RESERVE CAB vs. 2013 TURLEY ESTATE CAB
Our first Bottle vs. Bottle has taken place, and to say that we were excited about it would be a complete understatement! Let me preface this first by saying that going into this head-to-head competition, we felt that both bottles were exceptional! So exceptional that it piqued our curiosity as to which one we might prefer in a blind tasting. Now that the results are in, we honestly can say that nothing has changed- we still find them BOTH to be exceptional wines....but in case you were wondering just how well each fared, read on!
This edition of BvB went down at Rustic Kitchen in Los Angeles, and we would like to thank John and Noelle Fanaris for inviting us to have our inauguralwine competition there. This new market, café, and wine bar is very charming and the food is fantastic! We decided to go with their Braised Short Rib plate for our pairing; and to have John, who is an avid wine collector and level 1 sommelier, join us as a special guest judge...and it's a good thing that we did, otherwise the competition would have ended in a dead-on tie! Michael scored the bout 6-4 in favor of the Justin. Nicole scored the bout 6-4 in favor of the Turley. So how did John vote? And the winner is.....
$44.00
Scoring in each category is as follows:
Round one- Aroma (1 point), Color (1 point), Taste (2 points).
Round two- Aroma (1 point), Color (1 point), Taste (2 points).
Round three- Taste (2 points).
(10 points would be a perfect score)
Rustic Kitchen is located at: 3523 S. Centinela Ave. Los Angeles, 90066. Phone: (310) 390-1500.
BOTTLE vs. BOTTLE
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7.) A judge may elect to split the 2 points in a tasting category, in the event that they feel it is too close to call (ie. give 1 point to each).
The Premise:
Remember the Pepsi Challenge?! We'll we thought we'd do the same thing, only with wine!
We thought that it would be fun to take two wines that we really love, and put them up against each other in a blind tasting. To be fair, the wines must be of the same varietal; in the same price range; served at the same temperature; and in the same type of glass. Our "competitors" will usually be from different wineries, but occasionally they might be the exact same wine, just different vintages. They could even be the same brand and vintage, but from different vineyards. Make sure to follow us on either Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter to stay posted on when our next match up will be!
LET THE BOTTLES BEGIN!