Young Winos Tournament Results
People,
The first annual Young Winos March Madness tournament was an intense, captivating experience. I think we all learned a lot about tasting… not only about the techniques and nuances involved in a blind tasting experience, but also about our own limitations and shortcomings therein.
For many of us, the reds proved significantly more difficult to discern than the whites. The average score at the white tasting was 7.1, while the average score at the red tasting was only 5.7. The three highest scorers at the white tasting (Andrew, Jessica, and Newsha) experienced significant drop-offs during the red tasting, while the three of us who fared better tasting the reds (Noah, Emily, and myself) experienced only small increases over our white night total — and, at least in my case, guessed many more white varietals correctly than we did red, the point increase only resulting from some rather specious regional guessing.
Tuesday night’s leaders were:
1. Noah (10.5)
2. Emily (9.0)
3. Jesse (6.5)
4. Joe (6.0)
4. Jessica (6.0)
6. Theresa (4.5)
7. Don (3.0)
7. Newsha (3.0)
7. Andrew (3.0)
Crucially absent from the tasting were Brittney and Jason, both of whom were too busy with scholarly pursuits, spin classes, and things of that nature. Also missing for the second week in a row was regular-season leader Maggy, squandering her chance at postseason glory… she actually finished behind Don in the final standings. (Appearing at his first Young Winos meeting, Emily’s boyfriend Tom scored an impressive 9.5… hopefully he’ll join us at future events. My friend Nick from home also attended as a guest, but scored only a 3.0, so hopefully he won’t be coming back.)
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the final tournament scores. Listed below are members with at least four points accumulated over the eight weeks of tasting:
14. Maggy (4.0)
12. Don (4.5)
12. Theresa (4.5)
9. Joe (6.0)
9. Daniella (6.0)
9. Nicoli (6.0)
8. Sasha (9.0)
7. Jen (9.5)
6. Newsha (13.5)
5. Andrew (14.0)
4. Jesse (15.0)
3. Jessica (17.0)
2. Noah (17.5)
1. Emily (18.5)
Congratulations to Emily Olsen, our March Madness champion! She’ll be receiving a $20 gift certificate to BevMo, compliments of the Young Winos scholarship fund.
Over the next five weeks, we’ll be addressing the grapes that we neglected during the selection process for the tournament. The six grapes that we chose by no means represent the totality of excellent varietals that are available for purchase. On the white side, we’ll do a Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio night and a Viognier night, and for the reds, we’ll be devoting evenings to Merlot and to Sangiovese. Also, due to popular request, in three weeks we’ll be tasting wines from your state!! If you need your parents to ship you one, get on that. And if you’re from Cali, you’ll be bringing a wine from the region nearest to where you grew up (or, if you went to school in another state, you can bring one of those).
We’ll also be discussing our upcoming field trips at the next couple meetings. Be there! Details to follow!
Jesse