Dutch Blind Tasting Championship 2024.
This may, the sixth edition of the Dutch blind tasting championship took place at Landgoed Dijnselburg, organized and spearheaded by Fred Nijhuis. After competing in a pre-selection round for a spot in the final, 20 teams fought and tasted fiercely for the title of being the best Dutch blind tasting team of 2024, and a spot in the world blind tasting championship. Our own Martin Bronkhorst was able to join the competition, and experienced first-hand how difficult the art of blind tasting is. Join us for a report of this exciting event!
The Championship
The competition consisted of a blind tasting of twelve wines, in which teams would receive points for determining the country the wine was from, the region, the grape variety, the vintage, and the producer. For blends, points were awarded for naming the predominant grape variety. The team with the most points in total would naturally win the competition, and will have the honour to represent the Netherlands at the 12th edition of the world blind tasting championship – this year held in October at Château Dauzac in Margaux. In this historical location, the Dutch delegation of this year will compete with 36 other countries for the title of the best blind tasters of the world. The hopes are high, as last year the Dutch team placed second – just one point after Romania – itself an incredible accomplishment.
We were excited to join the competition ‘pro-forma’, meaning we would, along with other representatives from the Duch wine press, participate and receive a final score just like all the other teams, but would not appear in the final rankings. Despite this we luckily ended up performing quite well and held up the honour of the Dutch wine press.
After the tasting was done there was a break to allow the jury to check the answer sheets of each team and award them their respective points. During this, the teams themselves were guided to the main foyer, where a broad selection of wines were open to taste – brought by partners of the championship such as Roberto Voerzio, Catawiki, and Pitch PR – representing Sherry. Highlights of the wines being open to taste include a double magnum of Roberto Voerzio’s Casa Nere Barolo Riserva 2011, a Château d’Issan 1985 brought by the team of Catawiki, and a wide range of Sherries brought by Pitch PR’s representatives (including our own Inma Muñoz) – all accompanied by delicious bites. Life could be worse.
The Blind Tasting
The following wines were poured blind in the competition:
1. Gusbourne, Blanc de Blancs, Kent, 2018
2. Quinta do Tamariz, Vinho Regional Minho Reserva, 2017
3. Oremus, Mandolas Furmint Dry, Tokaji, 2021
4. Château Musar Blanc, Beeka Valley, 2017
5. Famille Hugel, Pinot Gris Grossi Laüe, Alsace, 2012
6. Bonny Doon, Le Cigare Volant, Central Coast, 2021
7. Dominique Piron, Morgon Côte du Py, 2022
8. Joseph Drouhin, Beaune Premier Cru Cras, 2019
9. Château Lagrezette, Cuvée Dame Honneur, Cahors, 2020
10. Bodegas Numanthia, Toro Numanthia, 2018
11. Loredan Gasparini, Capo di Stato, Montello Asolo Venegazzù Superiore, 2019
12. Tschida Angerhof, Muskat Ottonel, Burgenland, 2022
All wines were selected by Fred Nijhuis himself and were poured from decanters as to keep their identity as secret as possible. All in all, there were some curveballs in the selection like the Musar Blanc and Bonny Doon’s Le Cigare Volant, but luckily also some benchmarks like Hugel’s Pinot Gris Grossi Laüe and Numanthia’s Toro bottling. Overall, the selection was engaging and all the wines were a joy to taste, with the average quality being very high.
Gusbourne, Blanc de Blancs, Kent, 2018
We ended up with a Riesling Sekt from 2019 for this due to the high acidity and smoky autolytic notes, as we did not find the typical brioche and toast notes usually associated with traditional method Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. While we got the country and grape wrong, we were right about the fruit profile and the high acidity, and very close to the correct vintage. Could have been a worse start.
Quinta do Tamariz, Vinho Regional Minho Reserva, 2017
Here it all went wrong. None of us were very familiar with this region and grape, which combined with it being an aged wine completely threw us off. Due to the waxy richness of the wine combined with its medium acidity and grassy, nutty, honeyed notes we ended up going for a South African Sémillon from 2013.
Oremus Mandolas, Furmint Dry, Tokaji, 2021
Notes of honey, hay, apple, ripe pear, lemon, and dried fruit. High acidity and a certain floral elegance to it. Full body. Light oak usage. Could it be anything other than Chenin Blanc from Savennières? Yes, it could – namely Furmint from Hungary. Here we identified all pieces of the puzzle correctly but ended up just with the wrong conclusion.
Château Musar Blanc, Beeka Valley, 2017
None of us had a lot of experience with this wine, so it was hard to instantly call it. We ended up going for a high-end white Burgundy from 2014 since the wine showed a lot of creamy richness, with ripe yellow fruit, vanilla, and a certain dill herbaceous to it that reminded us strongly of old-world Chardonnay, along with more mature notes of nuttiness and hay. As the main grape for Muscar Blanc, being Obaideh, has an (unproven) relationship to Chardonnay, we did not feel too bad about not getting this one right.
Famille Hugel, Pinot Gris Grossi Laüe, Alsace, 2012
Finally, something we instantly recognized. The floral, spicy notes combined with the richness and ripe stone fruit immediately pointed us towards Pinot Gris from Alsace. Gorgeous wine and highly typical of the region. We guessed the vintage to be 2017 while it was 2012 – another testament to how well these wines tend to age.
Bonny Doon, Le Cigare Volant, Central Coast, 2021
The strawberry and violet whole bunch notes of this wine, combined with the elegant and soft profile reminded us of Gamay from France. Nothing here stood out as distinctively American to us, so we did not feel too bad about completely missing this wine. Grenache was at one point on the table in the form of an entry-level Southern Rhône blend, but due to the whole bunch notes we ended up in Beaujolais.
Dominique Piron, Morgon Côte du Py, 2022
Another close one. We already chose Beaujolais for the prior wine, so naturally this option was out of the question for this wine. The structured tannins, the mix of ripe red and black fruit, combined with the gentle acidity and very high quality hinted us to go to Gigondas. No overt new oak was noticed, and even some garrigue and liquorice notes were also on the table – further confirming that Gigondas was a sound choice. In the end, we were only roughly 200 kilometers off from the correct choice. It seems like we need more training in keeping Gamay and Grenache apart in blind tastings. Lessons learned!
Joseph Drouhin, Beaune Premier Cru Cras, 2019
The elegant oak usage, red fruits, clove, liquorice and earthiness immediately spoke of Pinot Noir to us. The colour confirmed this. However, for us the wine just did not have that velvety, elegant texture that Burgundy usually has, and there was a bit too much spiciness for us to consider it as a red Burgundy. There was no overt new oak and the fruit was modest, so we eliminated new world Pinot Noir. The spiciness of the wine reminded us of German Spätburgunder. In the end we went back and forth between the Ahr and Baden and ended up going for the Ahr, as we did not sense the richer blue fruit-profile Baden usually has. Close enough.
Château Lagrezette, Cuvée Dame Honneur, Cahors, 2020
Rich, black fruit, soft and velvety texture, full body, tobacco, violet and vanilla. Malbec immediately came to mind. For a few seconds we also considered Dolcetto from Piemonte, but the bitterness and plummy fruit that grape variety usually brings was not present in the glass. Due to the combination of rich, black fruit and a certain floral note, combined with the heavy new oak usage, we ended up in Mendoza, Argentina. We also considered Cahors but did not end up there as we thought the fruit to be a bit too ripe and polished, along with the obvious new oak usage. Again, close enough.
Bodegas Numanthia, Toro Numanthia, 2018
Due to the earthiness, ripe fruit, and spice profile, along with the rustic character, we quickly thought of Spanish Tempranillo. For us the choice was between Rioja and Ribera del Duero – we went to the latter because of the more black-fruited profile of the wine. The good acidity also helped in this regard, as the higher diurnal range in Ribera del Duero combined with the higher elevations help Tempranillo keep its acidity. The wine ended up coming from Toro, which tends to be a bit more tannic and rustic than Ribera, but with a comparable profile. As Numanthia (owned by LVMH) is known for producing quite polished, not-so-rustic wines, we didn’t feel too bad about not getting this one exactly right.
Loredan Gasparini, Capo di Stato, Montello Asolo Venegazzù Superiore, 2019
Tough one to call blind. We recognized the predominance of Cabernet Sauvignon due to the vegetal, leafy note combined with cassis and tobacco. The fruit was just-ripe, suggesting a marginal climate. In the end due to the refined oak usage, we went to Médoc in Bordeaux. The wine had a certain Italian bitterness to it, but we did not feel enough warmth in the wine to go to Bolgheri and calling the wine a Super Tuscan. As the average growing season temperatures of Bordeaux and Veneto are quite similar, we are at peace with our final choice.
Tschida Angerhof, Muskat Ottonel, Burgenland, 2022
Here chaos broke out within our team, with everyone thinking of something else. We recognized Muscat with its orange blossom, grape and peach notes, but the country of origin was subject to debate. Some of us thought of a German (Beeren) Auslese, others of a Vendanges Tardives Alsace-style, and others of an Austrian Auslese style from around the Neusiedlersee – the latter of which being the correct one. Unfortunately, we ultimately went for an Alsatian Muscat Vendanges Tardives, which ended up giving us some points but sadly not nearly all of them.
The Results
After the break the jury had prepared the final rankings, in which team ‘Brabantse Wijnsociëteit 2 (Eric Hoepelman, Willem Jan Withagen, Rob van Kalmthout and Martijn de Groot)’ took the first place with 100 points, and ‘Brabantse Wijnsociëteit 1’ the second place with 93 points. Particularly impressive as both teams are from the same wine society – thereby itself establishing itself as one of the premier blind tasting societies in the Netherlands. The third place consisted of an Ex Aequo of teams Extra Brut and Provino as both teams were awarded 79 points.
The press table consisting of Liza Verbeek (also representing Dutch Wine Apprentice), India Donisi (Winespicegirl), Angelique Meulendijks (representing Anne-Wies.nl), and Martin Bronkhorst gathered a total of 61 points – placing us roughly in the middle of the final ranking between the 9th and 10th place. A result we were particularly proud of since we had zero preparation and never tasted of practiced before together. While we did not get many wines exactly right, we were almost always on the correct trail and were able to score a good number of points that way. While guessing the origin of the wine correctly is important (and a fun challenge), this also shows that correctly identifying the pieces of the puzzle can also yield good results – enough even to place us halfway in the rankings!
Conclusion
Lessons learned from the blind tasting are that it is better to eliminate grapes and regions that the wine cannot be, instead of automatically drawing up conclusions about what the wine is after the first smell or taste. However, we also experienced that when in doubt about what the wine is, it is best to rely on your first intuition. Furthermore, while we did not identify the exact origin of all the wines, correctly identifying the pieces of the puzzle is also worth a lot of points. To conclude, we will be following the Dutch team closely on their journey to the world championship at Château Dauzac and look forward to the next edition of the Dutch Blind Tasting Championship – perhaps this edition as a real participant!
This article is written by our own Martin Bronkhorst. We thank Fred Nijhuis and his partners for organizing this excellent event, and congratulate the winners of this year’s Dutch Blind Tasting Championship. Let’s all root for them in the World Championship!
