The ramifications of being a judge in a blind tasting of superstar wines. Questions it raises about quality, price, longevity and even the nature and accuracy of a blind tasting.

Varietals: Supreme Court Bottles

I commented last week on my experience as a judge in a blind tasting where we compared some merlot and cabernet sauvignon vintages produced by Lenz Winery on Long Island with several illustrious Bordeaux wines. The results were quite remarkable, and they raise some interesting general questions that I will address this week about quality, price, the place of Long Island wines, and even the nature of a blind tasting.

In two of the flights Lenz went head to head with Chateau Petrus, one of the superstars of the world of wine and one of the most expensive labels on wine lists around the world. The 2000 vintage of Petrus sells in wine stores for $2,500, and for considerably more in restaurants. Even lesser vintages of Petrus are expensive. The thriftiest Petrus at Sherry- Lehmann, for example, is $550, and since it is the 2004 vintage, it won’t even be delivered until next year. The Lenz Old Vines merlot series, which sells for $55, scored just about evenly with various vintages of Chateau Petrus.

The most obvious question, of course, is whether the Old Vines vintages from Lenz are as good as Petrus? (Both labels are predominantly merlot, but may have small quantities of other grapes in the blend.) The answer is a little less obvious.

As far as taste, our jury of nine, which included some powerhouse wine professionals, returned with a verdict (our scores) and it was yes. Both the Lenz and the Petrus were superb, made in a traditional Old World way, with restrained fruit and exquisite balance. Having said that, I do not wish to diminish the accomplishments of Lenz winemaker, Eric Fry, or those of Petrus for that matter, but the isolation of a blind tasting and the inherent difficulty of quantifying and scoring a sensual experience are tricky situations. Would we have found the wines equal if we had known the identity, and had drunk them with a meal in the company of friends? I can only guess, and my guess is that if we resisted being swayed by the importance and expense of the Petrus label, we would still have said yes, these wines are comparable.

If there are differences, they might relate to longevity and the ability to improve with age. These are hallmarks of classically crafted French wines, and it might take many more years of observation, even generations, to say where Lenz stands. You have to remember however that these aging characteristics are mostly vintage-related, directly tied to the age of the vines and the quality of the harvest, whether in Bordeaux or on Long Island. The skills of the winemaker are important too, but secondary in this respect.

While most of the 24 wines in our blind tasting were ready to drink, at least several will improve significantly with bottle aging, most of all the fabled 2000 Petrus. It is, on any standard, just too young to be truly enjoyed now. This is a wine with a future that will dwarf the present quality, but when Robert Parker awards it a 100 point score, fully recognizing and advising about its future potential, you can bet some big spenders will be pulling the cork, ready or not.

Can you infer from the results of the tasting that Lenz makes the single best merlot on Long Island? Can you conclude that if Lenz matches Petrus, it must of course be better than other local merlot? Not necessarily. We know it is very good, but other Long Island winemakers are also dedicating themselves to producing top quality merlot, and very often succeeding. What might they do in comparative tastings?

I’d like to see (and maybe I will organize) a blind tasting of merlot made by Lenz, Paumanok, Bedell, Channing, Wolffer, and any number of other local producers along with some significant French wines as well as California and other New World merlot. I suspect that while Lenz would be one of the leaders, the Long Island wines, overall, would exhibit outstanding results. By the way, this is not something I would have said about Long Island wines a few years ago.

Value for money—what you pay and what you get—is the other big question raised by the results of our blind tasting. I concluded last week that you don’t even need a wine critic to comment on that aspect of the results of the tasting. I’d certainly pick up a $55 Lenz for dinner next weekend. But, thinking about it, I’d also pay $2,500 for a Petrus 2000 if my wine budget could handle it, and I’d put it away for some occasion way down the road like the dawning of world peace. My friends will then no doubt congratulate me for my foresight in buying it when it was affordable.