To celebrate the notoriety we’ve garnered thanks to being singled out by World Wrestling megabucks impresario Vince McMahon; we recently held a mano a mano a mano red wine competition featuring three of Philly’s well-known wine educators – Brian “Il Cavallino” Freedman, Collin “The Rookie” Flatt, and a man we all respect (well, most of the time) Keith “El Jefe” Wallace.
The judges for the blind tasting were not professional tasters or writers. They represented the vox populi, just a random group of wine lovers. Results were tabulated by the accounting firm of Dewey Cheatum & Howe.
In Round #1, Collin’s pick of a Wildberry Estate Cabernet from Australia’s Margaret River region brutalized Brian’s Catena Malbec..usually a crowd-pleaser.
Round #2 saw El Jefe’s Touriga Nacional (which drew a “Huh?!?” from the crowd) put to rest by the Chateau Coufran Haut Medoc Brian selected, a rarity for a Left Bank wine in that Merlot was the featured grape.
On to Round #3, both wines proved to be crowd-pleasers as Collin’s spritely Rhone red from Mas de Libian narrowly outpaced Keith’s Ryan Patrick Bordeaux style blend from Washington’s Columbia Valley.
Both Collin and Keith had amassed 141 points at that juncture, leaving Brian to contemplate whether or not to renew his membership in the Jimmy Johnson Tonsorial Club for Men. The Championship Round was a lesson in humility for The Rookie as Keith’s Espelt “Sauro” from Emporia in Spain blew away his Sella & Mosca Cannonau from Sardinia.
So, to the winner, go the spoils and bragging rites (and, yes, the spelling is intentional). He will get to smack his competitors in a manner he chooses, as yet to be determined. Hmmm…how about a version of the Python’s Fish Slapping Dance?