Bordeaux vs Napa tasting

Make the sheets View: A4 · Letter

The sheet is the four-wine flight page, titled with the evening's name if you type one: a column per wine, each headed by its numbered ring and colour, and the name when open, with the same seven rows running across, three words to circle on each. A Rank box sits under every column and The difference, in my words runs across the foot. For Bordeaux against Napa the telling rows are mouth-watering, usually higher in Bordeaux, and weight, usually fuller in Napa. Napa's warmth from alcohol has no row here, so it belongs in the difference line. The aromas to look for are blackcurrant and cedar in both, with riper black fruit and vanilla in Napa and more earth and graphite in a Médoc. It suits one to four tasters with some experience of red wine, and works open or blind.

Choose two Bordeaux from the Left Bank, Pauillac or Margaux, where Cabernet leads the blend, and two Napa Cabernets at similar prices, so the place is the main difference. Pour blind with numbered tags, in an order that mixes them, and keep the list for yourself. Fill each row across all four, then rank and write the difference, and only then guess which two are Californian. Print one sheet per taster, the bottle tags, and a full notes page for any wine worth studying. Opening the bottles an hour ahead helps both. These are serious, tannic wines, so pour small, eat something between rows, drink water and spit, and keep the rest of the bottles for dinner afterwards, when the arguments about which side won can carry on.

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