On Thanksgiving my family has a tendency to sit around the TV, watch football, and not interact with each other as much as I would like. So I’m planning a Thanksgiving blind wine tasting game to spur interaction. I would also like to confiscate all cell phones, but I think my life would be endangered if I did.
I’m going to test and see if my family likes cheaper or more expensive wines. The person who first correctly guesses all the expensive wines wins a bottle of wine.
There has been lots of research that says the wine labels and price makes people choose the more expensive bottle as being better. I think blind tastings are the best way to really test your palate. Below are the wines I’m testing on Thanksgiving:
- Pinot Noir – Rex-Goliath $7
- Pinot Noir – OFV (Willamette) $18
- Riesling – Sutter Home $7
- Riesling – Lucky Duck $5
- Moscato – Oak Leaf $2.97
- Moscato – Cloud Break $8.99
I mostly picked the wines based on Thanksgiving pairings.
- Pinot Noir pairs well with appetizers, cheese, and dark meat.
- I would normally test Pinot Grigio instead of Riesling because it goes so well with Turkey but my family loves Rieslings and taste rules so I picked it for this tasting. Pick wines you like for your own blind tasting. The Riesling test should be interesting because the Sutter Home is a bit dryer than the Lucky Duck, so lets see if my family likes “sweet” over “dry”. Both Rieslings pair well with poultry and the sweeter Lucky Duck also pairs well with desserts.
- Moscato pairs well with desserts.
I will cover the bottles with a bag and label each one with a number (same number that is listed above) and I will have a tally sheet next to the wines so folks can mark the one in each pairing they liked best. Have them put their initials next to their mark so you can pick a winner. Click Here to print a tally sheet I created for you.
I got free bags when I purchased most of the wines at total wine. I bought the Oak Leaf wine at Wal-Mart, because that’s the only place you can purchase it.
I’ll do a follow-up post after Thanksgiving to let you know which wines won.
Let me know if you try this blind tasting and your winning wines.
I wish you a happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.
Cheers – Carrie
