EXPENSIVE vs. CHEAP – Can a Master of Wine taste the difference?!

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I use this wine key: Forge de Laguiole Ebony
I have used this glass in this Video: Nude Stem Zero Elegant Red Wine
I have tasted the following wines in this Video:

2015 Bien Nacido Vineyards Syrah, Santa Maria Valley, USA
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/bien+nacido+sra+santa+maria+valley+barbara+county+central+coast+california+usa/2015?referring_site=KSB

2017 Two Hands Wines Yacca Block Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/two+hand+yacca+block+sra+eden+valley+barossa+south+australia/2017?referring_site=KSB

2019 Planeta Maroccoli Syrah Sicilia IGT, Sicily, Italy
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/planeta+maroccoli+sra+igp+sicilia+italy/2019?referring_site=KSB

2018 Domaine Jamet Cote Rotie, Rhone, France
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/dom+jamet+cote+rotie+rhone+france/2018?referring_site=KSB

2020 Domaine Danjou-Banessy Cotes du Roussillon Villages ‘Les Mirandes’, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/dom+d+anjou+banessy+les+mirande+languedoc+cote+du+roussillon+village+france/2020?referring_site=KSB

The 100 Point Scoring System (from www.robertparker.com):
96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.
90 – 95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80 – 89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70 – 79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60 – 69: A below-average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50 – 59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.

When it is all fermented grape juice, why are people paying so much for it? That’s a justified question, one that many have asked before. That we pay much more for one product compared to another similar product is, however, nothing new. Just look at handbags or cars for instance: A Gucci bag is just another leather bag and a Ferrari will get you to work just as fast as your Honda … that is if you follow the law.

Still, humans are prepared much more for some luxury products because they represent something extraordinary and make them feel better about themselves. For this feeling you pay extra but in a blind tasting, the brand recognition of a luxury wine does not matter anymore because all wines are bottles in numbered black bags.

Leon has selected five wines that are all made from the same grape variety or varieties. They might come from different places – I don’t know… what I know though, is that one of the wines is really expensive and the rest are more moderately priced.

The question is: Will I know which one is which and will the most expensive wine win the tasting?

If it is all fermented grape juice why are some people paying so much for it that is a Justified question one that many people have asked me before but the fact that you pay more for one product than for another very similar product isn’t something new just look at

Handbags or cars for instance a Gucci bag is just another leather bag and a Ferrari won’t get you to work faster than your Honda well that is if you follow the law still humans are prepared to pay much more for certain luxury it items because they represent something

Extraordinary and make them feel better about themselves for this feeling you pay extra but in a blind tasting the brand of a luxury item does not matter anymore all wines are just bottles in black bags Leon has selected five wines that are all made from the same great

Variety or varieties they might all be from the same place or from all over the world I don’t know what I know though is that one of those wines is really expensive and the rest are more moderately priced the questions are will I know which one is which and will the

Most expensive wine win the tasting let’s find Out all right let’s start off with wine number one which comes in a in a slightly weird bottle so wine one is pale Ruby I mean it’s not very dark at least it’s not the palest but I can kind of barely see my hands through it but I

Can see them through it and it looks looks pretty young I mean the color is really Ruby there’s not too much Browning there so it looks like a young red one that’s all I’m willing to commit to so far it smells of dark fruit blackberries there’s also a little bit

Of cherry character coming through there’s a bit of spice um some banard flavors so a little wild and rough on the palette it has some freshness and fruit but also pretty grippy tannant they are slightly rustic I would say a little bit green um a little bit rough

There’s some peppery and black olive notes coming through and that kind of points to one great variety definitely wild and on the fresher side but I got to be honest here I mean this this bottle feels awfully familiar that’s always the issue with blind tastings I know I should really decant them all

Into crafts and that gets a little bit difficult logistically but I I think I know this bottle as a matter of fact I have that exact same bottle somewhere here give me give me a second so here you go that’s shat bom remember that one that’s one for the ogs who’ve been

Following this channel for a long time this was a wine that I made myself and I bottled it into several different bottles and this one was a bottle from Petra Sassi so Petra Sassi is a producer from Santa Barbara they use those bottles and they make wine out of the

Grap variety sura so I’m going to say this is a sura from Santa Barbara from Petra Sassi I think it’s one of their more high-end wines so I’d say this is maybe Bano I don’t think it’s very old I would say it’s like 2019 probably as a vintage and it’s

Really good so they are more on the Lighter Side they pick a little bit earlier they like to use quite a lot of whole bunch and this is a more lighter vibrant wine but a delicious one with a lot of balance and I’m going to rate

This 902 points next up we have wine number two and this is a heavy bottle the weight of the bottle obviously doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the wine but still people like to use heavy bottles in order to indicate that this is a great one but it

Isn’t and it’s kind of bad for the environment anyways let’s taste so this is super intense and concentrated quite a lot of dark fruit flavors blueberries blackberries quite a lot of concentration and richness on the palette there’s so much weight and concentration so the tannant are quite

Polished and round it’s quite a lot of alcohol there and quite a lot of extract it almost feels like there’s a little bit of sweetness there too so quite a big one so this sort of has a new world feel to it but it could also be the Old

World um sometimes get that from wines from Portugal they obviously in the old world in Europe but they sometimes produce wines that remind me of new world wine making so quite ripe and concentrated and very clean and this feels a little bit like that they also use surra in Portugal especially in the

South so I’m just going to say this could be Portugal surra from Portugal I think this is quite a good wine what I don’t really like is the sweet finish to it so I’m going to rate it 89 well 90 points and yeah I I’m pretty sure there are

Lots of people who really enjoy this it’s not not really for me so let’s move on to Wine number three which comes in a much lighter bottle good start one number three has quite a lot of spiciness to it so this kind of suggests that I’m on the right track with sura

Here there’s quite a lot of peppery notes there there’s blackberries again but not super R blackberries more like just ripe blackberries a little bit of red currant quite delicious there’s also some Oak coming through the use of Oak in Su is not uncommon at all so yeah this feels like a moderate climate

Because of the spicy notes I mean in surra those spicy notes do tend to come out more when the wine is not from a really hot region and I certainly get that here so this could be from a cooler part of the old world but it could also

Be from the new world I’m kind of considering New Zealand Chile that that feels a little bit like one of those places H but it obviously also could be South Africa because yeah it has this new world old world kind of feel so so let’s say it’s

South Africa I do think three is absolutely delicious I’m going to rate this 904 points really good s on to Wine number four so four is certainly quite dark in color I can’t see my fingers through it it’s Ruby kind of black at the core towards the rim there’s a

Little bit of Browning but just a just a touch on the nose there’s actually quite a lot of spice and black olive tonate a flavor that I absolutely love in surra you get that usually when you use a lot of whole bunch so if you include the

Stems in the fermentation you get this spicy black olive kind of flavor you however also can get quite a lot of grippy slightly bitter tannant uh let’s hope this one doesn’t have that wo this is a big and beautiful wine I mean really really good this kind of feels

Like the essence of s it has this spiciness pepperiness blackberries cherries ripe tons great freshness so it’s really really really complete there’s also some Oak there which is kind of underlining the fruit quite balanced so I’m going to rate this 90 seven points I think it’s it’s a stunning stunning wine really

Delicious wine and I’m guessing that this is probably the super or the most expensive wine in the tasting just because it has quite a lot of quite a lot of elements and this kind of wine making requires low yields great Vineyards and really knowledgeable wine makers so I’m going to say this is

Probably from the northern rone it could be from amage it could be from kti maybe I’m actually going to coras here I’m thinking this feels quite quite intense grippy dark and that is kind of what coras taste like for me at least and yeah delicious wine so here we go wine

Number five another dark and concentrated red wine which is quite delicious and fruit driven really really fruity for me this has Juniper fresh blackberries a little bit of black currs but not CIS lur it’s more fresh black currs really concentrated and very very much on the fruit this

Feels to me like a wine that is from the old world it’s it has a certain wildness little roughness to it even though there’s quite a lot of fruit there there’s also this G spice notes coming through so yeah I’m guessing this could be from Germany it could be from Italy we had

Some great surra here from Italy it could be from Southern France tough because of this G the undergrowth in southern France flavor I’m just going to go longer do I think this is probably more of a really entry level wine not not a very expensive wine but quite delicious I’m going to rate

This 91 points I think it’s just juicy fresh and vibrant really good so who’s ready for the big reveal I am so let’s jump into it so wine number one I was in Santa barara I said this is p Sassi but yeah I mean when you know the bottle you

Know the wine but well maybe maybe there’s someone else using that bottle let’s see no no no this is the 2015 p b Sur so I was actually in the right Vineyard and the right Winery but I thought this was younger it felt much younger 2015 so obviously almost 9 years

Old but it still tastes delicious so this is not a steel but it’s pretty affordable still I think so this is not the expensive wine for sure so let’s move on to Wine number two I actually thought it had some new world character but I ended up in Portugal in the end

Starwise I thought this reminded me a little bit of Portuguese Reds what I didn’t really like here was the Super Rich concentration on the Finish slight sweetness but it still felt like a like a really well made wi so let’s have a look what this might be damn okay I was

Wrong so this is actually the 2017 Eden Valley shz from two hands the yaka block single Vineyard from barasa in Australia see I I just I just didn’t really feel this wine to be honest and I think it’s actually I don’t think it’s the super premium wine but it’s it’s not a cheap

One but yeah I I just thought it was too big and I didn’t get any eucalyptus here which is odd yeah this is a big wine I don’t know I don’t quite I don’t quite get it so let’s move on to the next again I felt

It was a little bit between the old and the new world but I ended up in South Africa so let’s let’s find out what it was wi number three what whoa planeta maroli from from Sicily in Italy so it’s kind of in between the old and the new

World it’s also south of here but it’s definitely not South Africa it is a 100% surra from 2019 I thought it was really good really good stuff so wine number four the wine that I thought was the best and probably is the most expensive wine so far I mean

I don’t actually know how much this is but but yeah I’m thinking this is kind of like the top top top dog so let’s have a look what this yes all right well I was in the right region but I wasn’t quite in the right Village so this is the kti

2018 from J and it’s a delicious one I mean if you’re into suran you should definitely try this which leaves us with wine number five a wine that I quite liked and struggled to place but in the end I went to Southern France and I thought this was probably the cheapest

In the lineup but let’s let’s find out the label the label doesn’t really give me much here luckily there’s a back label so this is from domain code Catalan 12 and a half% alcohol yeah quite fresh and fruit driven I mean the label I don’t I don’t

Really get this because you can’t really read it but the wine is is really delicious so this was a beautiful surra experience again and I quite liked all of the ones I mean this Star Wars just wasn’t for me this is absolutely stunning but those three I mean they they are beautiful

Wines and probably quite affordable I mean if you want to dive into the topic you can still purchase those I think Jame is probably a couple of hundreds of dollars so quite expensive but the rest still very affordable and still really delicious so after doing a few of those

Tastings in the end most of the time the top wine wins but the rest I mean they’re very close so so there’s not a huge gap usually between the top wine and some of those more affordable options so exploring and being more adventurous definitely definitely pays off but if

You want to taste the Pinnacle the real Great Stuff the classics you often times have to pay a premium so thank you for watching I hope you enjoyed this video if you did then please like it down here subscribe to my channel if you haven’t done so already my question of the day

Is which one is your favorite surra the one that boxes above its price class let me know Down Below in the comments I hope I see you guys again very soon until then stay thirsty yeah