Blind man's bluff: Wine tasting showdown

Wild Rock Gravel Pit Red. Photo / Babiche Martens

From Browns Bay to Brisbane, teams of wine buffs are putting their tastebuds in training as they prepare for a wine showdown happening in Auckland this weekend. Now in its 27th year, the annual First Glass Wine Options is a drinking game with a difference, which this year should see 50-plus teams pit their palates against each other as they try to pin down the identity of a selection of masked wines.

Wine Options was developed by Australian wine personality, the late Len Evans, who thought it made blind tasting into a sport. In the game, of which there are now numerous variations, participants are served a wine blind and then asked to pick the correct statement from a number of options to a series of questions that start with general then become more specific.

Forget any idea that blind tasting evokes of fusty aficionados formally pondering the properties of the mystery wines, as contestants are more likely to be seen dressed as convicts to the rock band Kiss (aka Kickass Imbibing Super Stars, of course), sporting team names that in the past have included the likes of Amy Winehouse goes to Rehab and Three Trollied Dollies and a Dollied Troll. The First Glass Wine Options is a seriously fun affair.

Ably and humorously handling MC duties at the event is Kingsley Wood, who is Mr Wine Options NZ. He held his first Wine Options back in 1983 and has organised and hosted every event since, which he claims is now the largest and longest running competition of its kind in the world. It all started in Christchurch while Wood was working for Wilson Neill, it went nationwide in 1985, was sponsored for a time by Liquorland before coming under the umbrella of Wood's Takapuna wine shop after 2002.

You don't have to be a wine geek to be in the running to win. "Anyone at all can compete with distinction," says Wood. "The magic of wine options is the fact that there are three options to choose from. One is correct and a slice of luck certainly helps - even the best teams need it!"

There are also prizes to be won for the best (and worst) team names and most imaginative costumes. "The team costumes are always a highlight and the imagination put into some of the team names is outstanding," says Kingsley. "So every team can be in the running for prizes."

However, for those wanting to win the competition's trophies and the bottles of Penfolds Grange up for grabs this year for the top team, Woods says plenty of practice can give a team the edge. With no obscure wines in the offing, his tip is to "go for the obvious, it's not always correct, but usually is".

As well as being great fun and featuring some decent drops to try as well as tear your hair out over, Woods thinks it's also a good way to develop one's palate. "You start to look for the distinctive flavours of the varieties, regionalities and vintage developments, etc. It encourages people to become more adventurous with wines," he says.

CONSIDERED CHOICES

Convivial quaffer

Elderton Friends Vineyard Barossa Shiraz, Australia 2006 $19.99
Rich, soft and smooth, this fruity and easy drinking shiraz with its ripe plums laced with cedar is made with fruit from the vineyards of friends of this family-owned Barossa winery.
(From branches of Liquorland and fine wine stores.)

Unfettered fruit

Wild Rock Gravel Pit Red Hawkes Bay Red 2007 $19.95
From Craggy Range's excellent value second label, this gutsy merlot malbec blend from the Gimblett Gravels is bursting with full-bodied and ripe dark berry fruit over notes of roasted spice.
(From Glengarry, Caro's, Fine Wine Delivery Company, Wine Direct.)

Rich riesling

Pegasus Bay Bel Canto Dry Riesling 2008 $31.95
Dry riesling can be a difficult style to do well in our climes, but this full-flavoured example from riesling supremos Pegasus Bay has a richness that pulls this off with aplomb.

Made from late-harvest fruit from the estate's oldest vines, it's an ultra-intense wine in which notes of white peach, mandarin peel, blossom and exotic spice combine with its fresh lift of mineral, grapefruit and tongue-tingling spritz.
(From Glengarry, The Fine Wine Delivery Company.)