huevos con vino

Jack at Fork and Bottle has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged me to a blind taste test.  He thinks the WineKeeper “Keeper” might be more of a gimmick than an actual wine “preservation” system, but I disagree.

The challenge is simple: Can I tell, in a blind tasting, the difference between a wine preserved with the Keeper that is stored in the fridge and a wine sealed with a regular cork that is also stored in the fridge?  Jack believes that in a blind taste test two nights after initially opening the wine, I will not be able to tell the difference between the two wines.  Additionally, he thinks I will actually prefer the bottle sealed with the cork rather than the Keeper.

That is the essential challenge.  There are a few variables I need to nail down first, though:

• Which wine would be best?  I want to test Pinot Noir because of the typically fragrant and complex bouquet you get with such a wine.
• Am I tasting the wines right after opening and then 2 days later, both blind?  I assume so.
• If I store the wines in the fridge, how long should I wait to smell and taste the wines after pouring?  They’ll be too cold at first.

I will, of course, use the same shape of Riedel glass for each wine (with a little label on each base to indicate which wine I am drinking), and I will have my wife assist me so I can be sure I am tasting totally blind (as in blindfolded). 

So, Jack, I am ready to accept your challenge…almost.  I need to finish another bottle of wine that is currently using my only Keeper bottle tap.  And then I’ll probably need to write up my entry for Wine Blogging Wednesday #30, unless I can sneak in this taste test before then.  But soon enough, we shall see just how good this Keeper really is!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 7:23 pm and is filed under taste tests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.