The Denver forumites, and others that belong to other forums or no forums at all, gathered in Frisco last night for Parsec Cup #7. The Parsec Cup is named after the company of the person that started this group, which was in place before many of us met through the WS forums. The Parsec Cup is structured as more of a competition than an actual tasting. The competition involves a lot of trash talking as we choose our wines, and has evolved into something of a guys night out in the mountains, spouses not included. The winner of the competition gets his name engraved on a miniature replica of Lord Stanley's Cup, and retains bragging rights until the next competition. The competition is followed by a (usually) extravagant meal prepared by the last winner, and a night of pool and foosball at the Moose Jaw, complete with beer, Jagermeister shots, and cigars.
The theme for Parsec Cup #7 was Syrah. As we left the 70 degree weather in Denver, and headed up to the mountains and five inches of snow overnight, the trash talking was flying.
The opening wines included a 1998 Château Carbonnieux Pessac-Léognan White and a 2000 Koehler Chenin Blanc. No notes were taken at this point, but the Carbonnieux was by far the better of the two wines.
The competition was judged using ordinals for first second and third place, with first place getting three points, second place getting two points, and third place receiving one point.
All wines were opened and decanted two hours before the tasting began.
The competition wines were:
1998 E & E Black Pepper Shiraz 1999 Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 1999 D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz 2000 Turkey Flat Barossa Valley Shiraz 2000 Cayuse Walla Walla Valley Cailloux Vineyard Syrah 1999 Fontodi Colli della Toscana Centrale Case Via Syrah After the competition, Free The Grapes decided to play one of his "what are you tasting" games. The wine he poured for us was relatively light in color, with a lot of noticeable bricking around the edges. The finish dropped off very quickly, leading one taster to comment it had no finish at all (I agreed with that). Guesses ranged from an old CA merlot (me), to a domestic Syrah (WA?), to a thin zinfandel. The wine turned out to be the 1999 L.A. Cetto Vino Tinto Cabernet Sauvignon from Mexico! My first Mexican wine experience and not one I care to repeat unless someone can point out a better example. This wine was not even close to being varietally correct.
While waiting for dinner to be prepared and served, I opened up another wine, which turned out to be the
2000 Joseph Phelps Insignia We decided to play "what are you tasting" with this wine too. Most tasters guessed Syrah or Zin, which goes to show how difficult it can be to play. All tasters believed this to be a young wine, with most guessing 1999 or 2000. All tasters agreed this was an outstanding wine.
The next Parsec Cup event will likely be held in August or September, with a varietal to be named later. Wayne, the owner of The Parsec Group, will be the reining champion and host (I knew I should have opened the E & E Black Pepper earlier).
Mike