Imagine yourself at a very elegant restaurant, hosting an important client, or trying to impress a date. You both decide on white fish as an entrée, so you are leaning toward a white wine. And since Chardonnay is such a popular grape, and Burgundy, France, such a respected region, you decide to go in this direction.

Yet as your eyes scan the enormous wine list, you see the various regions: Chablis, Meursault, and Puligny-Montrachet (and dozens of others). Maybe you remember ordering wines from these regions before, maybe you don’t, yet either way you feel frustrated that you can’t remember the differences between them.

Of course, you could always call over the sommelier and at the moment, it is probably your best option. Yet in the future you could help recall tasting notes from these wines with some practice.

Recently, I had to taste and compare three white Burgundies from the above-named region in the same vintage for a Master of Wine related exercise. So for this tasting I choose 2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault (from the village of Narvaux), the 2007 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet, and the 2007 Jean Collet Chablis Vielles Vignes The idea was to open label taste the wines, then bag them and see if I (and a friend) could detect the correct wines.

2007 Jean Collet Chablis Vielles Vignes

Before tasting the wines, I did as much Internet research as I could. I had been to Burgundy before and remembered Chablis (mainly because it was February, freezing, and could not find a coat to buy in the charming tiny Chablis village),

So having been there, I could imagine the high acidity, the clean citrus flavors, and other elements associated with very cool climates. The Chablis was as I expected it to be: very high acid, sharp citrus (lemon, a hint of grapefruit), some mild apple, some fresh butter (as opposed to melted), and minerals.

On the Internet, I read Chablis producer Jean Collet’s family began producing wine in the 17th century, and his vineyards are parcels locate on the best hills on both the left and right banks of the river Serein in the village of Chablis. Soil is limestone and marl from (Kimmeridgian and Portlandian). The age of the vineyards is 25 years, and they do a mechanical harvest and use a pneumatic press. The wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel under controlled temperature.

Now I am going to discuss the other wines, yet will compare them to one another and leave the Chablis out of the comparison. True, these wines are all from the Burgundy region, but because the Chablis is stainless steel only, and the others have oak, it is very easy to detect the differences (even by sight, as the above wine is very pale lemon).

2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault & 2007 Philippe Chavy Meursault (from the village of Narvaux)

In terms of sight, you might guess that the Meursault would be darker because of a tradition of oak aging, and you are right. Open label tasting the Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault it was “easy” to detect the subtle differences. The Meursault was characterized by butter, ripe apple, subtle spice (from oak), vanilla, and very rich, ripe, generous, concentrated fruit. It seemed ready to drink, and would not necessarily benefit from additional bottle age. In terms of quality, it seemed very much a premium wine. The Puligny-Montrachet was a little lighter in color, with a medium plus nose of butter and very ripe fruit in addition to aromas of hazelnut and saffron. One could almost detect a pastry cream type of aroma and the biscuit aroma often a result of decomposed yeast cells. On the palate, the “texture” was opulent, rich, generous, supple, and concentrated while the acidity was still medium plus. Very good quality again.

Though the Puligny-Montrachet was $60, it was only a village level wine. The two grand cru vineyards in Puligny-Montrachet are Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet, and two which are shared with neighboring Chassagne: Le Montrachet itself and Batard-Montrachet. I read that the village wines are “less impressive” than the village wines of neighboring Meursault because the water table is nearer the surface. This means that village producers can not dig the deep cellars ideal for aging and they can not prolong barrel maturation for more than a year.

The Carillon family traces their lineage in Puligny Montrachet to 1520 and it is comprised of 12 hectares of vineyards. The holdings in Puligny (8 ha total) are various parcels located on the Chassagne side of Puligny, within “Enseignere.” On his web site Mr. Carillon writes that the grapes are harvested manually, with the whites barrel fermented and aged in a small percentage of new oak and that some of the Village wine is aged in larger foudres rather than small barrels. Battonaged is practiced. The wines are assembled in stainess steel prior to bottling (which occurs in early spring) 18 months after harvest.

Now the Meursault terroir consists of marl and chalk soil, and the kind of high water table that allows producers such as Phillipe Chavy to carve deep cold cellars. No Grand Cru in Meursault, yet the Premiere Cru vineyards are Les Perrieres, Les Genevrieres, Les Charmes, Le Poruzot, Les Boucheres, and Les Gouttes d’Or. M. Chavy writes on his web site that he cultivates 8 hectares of splintered holdings comprising 30 plots. The various cuvees are vinified separately and may be blended later depending on his objectives. The grapes are harvested by hand as the vines are old and the rows very narrow. It takes 30 harvesters ten days to pick the grapes. Though his father and grandfather used mechanization and sprays, Mr. Chavy decided to revert to ploughing his vineyards, and no longer uses herbicides or insecticides so as to preserve the environment.

In the cellar, Mr. Chavy uses a pneumatic press (ideal for gentle, slow pressing of the must) and stainless steel, temperature controlled tanks.The final phase of vinification and maturation is conducted in oak barrels of various ages and provenances. The wines are aged for 11 month with regular stirring of the lees. M. Chavy writes that he recently purchased a special hi-tech filter so as to avoid stripping the wines of flavor before bottling. A small producer, Mr Chavy has two full time employees and his wife Graziella looks after sales.

So after tasting the wines open label, the idea was to bag them and the next day, pick out the correct wine. Though it was easy to tell the difference open label, the 24 hour lag seemed to have made the comparison between the Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault more difficult. The darker color of the barrel aged Meursault was the best tip.

And there you have it!

Which of the above villages are your favorite, and why?

"They do all seem so similar!" says a friend, known as the "supertaster," sniffing the mystery wine inside bag #2.

In front of us are three opened bottles of wine, each of their identities covered by sleek silver bags. All we know is that one is a Valpolicella Classico 2007, a Gamay from Touraine, and the wine that created the idea for this tasting, a Torette from the Vallee d'Aoste.

Tasting wine without its label revealed -- what is called 'blind tasting' in the wine profession - is a very popular occupation with students of wine. Virtually every school (Master of Wine, Court of Master Sommeliers, the Diploma level of the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust) asks students identify a wine 'blind' in aroma and flavor. For this reason, it is important that students develop a vocabulary for wine and try to memorize the connection between certain flavors and aromas and their grape varietal and location.

For this reason, my local wine store selects wine for me and delivers them in silver wrapping, so I can blind taste the wine without knowing what it was. The first time I had the Grosjean Vallee D'Aoste several months ago I couldn't place it -- with its light color, cherry expression, and subtle tannins could it be a Gamay? Or perhaps a Valpolicella?

Looking up the wine (Grosjean Vallee D'Aoste Torrette 2007), I discovered Torrette is Italy’s most remote wine growing zone, just west of the city of Turin, in the mountains bordering France and Switzerland. Wine has been growing here for 2100 years yet is no longer of major economic importance as revenue from ski tourism has usurped this. The major grape is Petite Rouge  -- light colored (nearly transparent) and spicy, with a hint of French oak. In trying to memorize its aroma and flavor, I realized I could possibly confuse it with Gamay and Valpolicella, hence the new blind tasting.

So upon request, the wine store chose the Gamay and Valpolicella for me, and the Supertaster and I set about nosing the wine. The Torrette has bright acidity and an almost chiaroscuro aspect to it, with the bright notes underscored by darker, tea-like tannins. The Gamay (Jean-Francois Merieau Le Bois Jacou 2007), though quite good in its own right, by comparison seems to be more one dimensional, with no real texture to provide contrast to its simple fruity nature. Now the Valpolicella Classico (Corte Rugolin 2007) does provide more similarities to the Torrette -- more tannin, more spice, more diversity and concentration of flavors. Both of these wines are nearly identical in color, aroma, and palate, yet the Petite Rouge of the Torrette offers a distinctive expression. To characterize it, one might call it slightly native or even wild.

Through reasoning and methods of deduction, we were able to correctly identify the three wines. Torrette is an excellent and unusual wine that pairs with a wide variety of dishes ... very rare beef comes to mind, grilled salmon, or a steak salad. You will find it more similar to Valpolicella than Gamay, and in my brief reading of  the region, it seems like a very exciting place to visit. Winemakers in Torrette are motivated by passion and respect for history rather than economic profit. The Petite Rouge grape possesses its own very unique personality. Very well worth seeking this region out when you are in the mood for a new, exciting style of wine with a long, mesmerizing history.

"What a delicious wine!" exclaims the client with real enthusiasm after his first sip of Carmenere, a popular Chilean varietal that was once mistaken for Merlot given its soft, velvety nature. Of course, the CEO started off the dinner with two very expensive bottles of Burgundy, which given the young vintage were not exactly showing at their best. In order to change the theme, and lower the tab, I quickly scanned the menu and ordered the $40 bottle.

Why Carmenere? Why now? Since the client refused to be poured more of the Burgundy and sipped Carmenere with interest, I imagine it is because Carmenere is ready to drink, incredibly delicious, and easy on the pocketbook during these challenging economic times. This brings me to the main point of this column: the exact same statement can be said of Malbec, a varietal which is "old world" in nature (think the Loire and Bordeaux), yet has found new popularity in Argentina.

Now that I have attained my Diploma from the Wine & Spirits Educational Trust, my next step is the Master of Wine, a self-study program in which students must blind taste wines and guess the varietals in a deductive fashion. Since Malbec and Carmenere are both a purple-ruby color with a similar nose and palate, yet come from two different countries and grape varietals, I needed to taste test them together in order to fix their characteristics in my mind.

If you would like to perform a similar taste test, call your local wine store, explain what you are doing, and ask the clerk to find an example of a Malbec and Carmenere which are similar in appearance, nose, and palate, and then ask the clerk to cover the bottle (usually done with a wine bag).

Once you receive the bottles, invite a few wine savvy friends over (not necessary, yet fun) and pour them a small amount of each varietal in two separate glasses. For my own test, the clerk sent me Crucero Carmenere from Chile's Colchagua Valley, and La Flor de Pulenta Wines (the Malbec) from Mendoza, Argentina.

As I suspected, both the wines looked similar in the glass, an extracted ruby-purple, though the Carmenere was a bit muddier while the Malbec had more of a scintillating brightness and clarity to it. Swirling each glass, I saw that the Carmenere had extraction in the tears (the waves of wine that rise and fall with each swirl), yet the glass became stained by them. The Malbec also had extraction (usually indicating a thick skinned grape), yet the tears did not stain the glass.

On the nose, both appeared initially similar. The Carmenere had smoke, rich red/black fruit, and a concentrated note like fig. The Malbec had a more pronounced oak (similar to a fireplace, though it could just be this one producer), and the wine seemed to be more red/purple flowers than fruit. In palate, the Carminere and Malbec both had med+ acidity, lower tannin, med to med- body, and alcohol around 13.5. Both my friend and I could recognize the Carminere when side-by-side with the Malbec, as it was smoother, had more body, and a bit more lush.

If you try this at home, please tell me your thoughts! I am story @awine story.com and you can also tweet me @awinestory

Technical notes: The Carmenere was made from 100/5 estate grown grapes with fermentation in stainless steel and aging in French oak for twelve months. La Flor de Pulenta Malbec made from 100% Estate fruit from the youngest vines and six months in neutral French oak barrels.