Weekend Blind Wine Tastings

Blind wine tastings.  Not white canes knocking over Pinot Gris filled glasses.  Not duck hunters sitting around on cold mornings hammering down blended reds.  No.  It's trying wines without the knowledge of where the wine came from.  Get several bottles and bag them up. Have everyone try them and rate them. You'll be surprised how many drinkers reallly like Merlot.  Or not. We had 6 bottles of wine.  3 Syrahs.  2 Merlots. 1 Cabernet.
Prices ranged from $13 to $26. Wines were in order of finish:   1-Jones of Washington 07 Syrah. 2- Chateau Ste. Michele Indian Wells Cab.  3- Walter Dacon 07 Syrah C'est Belle.  4-Christopher Cellars 07 Syrah   5-Mercer 07 Merlot    6- Columbia Crest H3 Merlot.  I picked the Walter Dacon Syrah.  It was just a bigger syrah than the other two. I actually thought the Cab was a syrah. The Merlots were pretty bad. Both finished dead last on 12 out of 16 ballots.  The Jones got the most 1st place votes.  10 people like it as the best. No one ranked it below 3rd.  I think the Christopher Cellars was better after the 2nd go around. With 16 people it was small pours and revisits even smaller. I would buy the Jones and the Walter Dacon. It is a great way to try new wines you may not try.