- Publish Date: May 10, 2010
Yellow Fail.
The scariest blind tasting ever?
Which is more frightening: Drinking Yellow Tail Reserve willingly, or trying it in a blind tasting and discovering that you like it? Last week we held our breath a little and tried the latter along with several wine writers and top sommeliers in New York.
Even though there was no official scorekeeping, in the two lineups--one Shiraz, one Cabernet--the Yellow Tails were among our least favorite wines. The absolute worst? The acclaimed Mollydooker Maitre'd Cabernet Sauvignon ($24). But here's the most important thing to know:
None of this means a thing unless you try a blind tasting like this on your own. It's your own personal taste that matters, no one else's. In fact, others at the event actually seemed to like the Yellow Tail; if you like it, too, that's not a crime.
So one night this week, if you dare, gather some friends, taste the same Aussie Shirazes and Cabernets we did, then unveil the bottles. The results might surprise you....
Or not. Feel free to praise or pan Yellow Tail here and now, or tell us about your most surprising blind-tasting experience here.
Here's a full recap:
Last Friday's event was double blind, meaning the tasters didn't know anything about the wines in front of them--not the vintage, variety or origin. The first four turned out to be Shirazes, in the following order:
What did we learn from this lineup? Not much. From our notes, we thought the Yellow Tail tasted like thin, watery candy. The second wine was a little better, but not much; neither really showed much varietal character at all. The Archetype was a little better than the first two, particularly for the round mouth feel. There were also some smooth tannins, where the first two wines had none at all, it seemed.
The Dead Arm was our favorite, even if that wasn't the case for many of the other tasters oh hand. This is a big, bold wine that's less about fruit and more about oak. But it had interesting eucalyptus and menthol aromas, a hint of dark fruit flavors and a very smooth, long, tannic finish. Worth $60? Debatable. But the take-home message here is that if you buy super-cheap Aussie Shiraz, odds are you'll get exactly what you pay for.
However, that wasn't necessarily the case for the second group of wines:
Excluding the Layer Cake, which stood out from the other wines more for being out of place and strange rather than better or worse, the three Cabs comprised a good head-to-head-to-head battle. Our favorite was the Penfolds, by far, which had juicy acidity, a nice mouth feel, a good range of fruit and black currant flavors, and fine, integrated tannins. The best wine of the day.
In second place for us, believe it or not, was the Yellow Tail. Granted, we thought it was the best of the worst--the other three wines we didn't care for much at all. But here's the thing: The wine was big, oaky and inky and, despite tasting a bit hollow, there was lots of jaminess and tannic structure, and even a nice menthol aroma. If you like that sort of style, this is a good buy for you; if you don't, steer clear.
And that's especially the case for the Mollydooker. We found it to be incredibly sweet and overly alcoholic--Port masquerading as Cabernet.
So our ranking was Penfolds in first, Yellow Tail second, Mollydooker third. That's not a bad showing for Yellow Tail considering the company it was in.
Does this mean we're rushing out to buy Yellow Tail Reserve Cab? No. But conducting a little exercise like this might be just what you need to make more satisfying wine buys of your own in the future.
What was the most surprising blind tasting you ever participated in? Tell us about it below.
