Episode 2

Episode 2 establishes the format. "The Japanese-style game show / wine show where we give two hospitality professionals three wines, hence the title," I said on camera. "We ask them to try and guess the grape, where they're from, how much they cost." The contestants are Justin Freeman, executive chef of Somebody People ("father of two, professor of delicioso"), and Patrick H. Hutton, owner of Wine Down Selections (Justin's wine teacher, desert legend, also father of two).

The wine pick comes from Patrick. The dish is a springtime pasta — asparagus, English peas, snap peas — coming out of a Denver winter that has had too many sweet potatoes in it.

The wines

Wine one was light-bodied with low acidity, mineral driven. Green apple, herbaceous, stainless-steel ferment, neutral barrel for texture if any, low alcohol. Cool climate. Justin worked through old-world possibilities — Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, or Italian Friulano. Patrick suspected Italian. Reveal: Sancerre, France, calcareous soils, 2022 vintage. Sauvignon Blanc, geographically Justin nailed it. "A cool little racy little Sauvignon and everyone loves a bit of Sauvignon Blanc."

Wine two was darker — bronze tint, moderate staining of tears, more body. Warmer-area production. The tasting went through a lot of regional possibilities. The wine was a Greek or southern-Italian white, the kind that the show keeps coming back to.

Wine three was the red — translucent, light, the kind of red Sam (here in voice-over) called "super crushable, drink-by-itself or with-spring-vegetables."

The pairing

Divided. Justin went Sancerre on its own, Greek/Italian white with the food. Patrick went Beaujolais or the kind of light red that has natural sweetness — "the natural sweetness in the overwintered spinach and asparagus, all from the snow that's still left, has a sweetness that pairs with stuff like that Beaujolais."

The winner with food: divided. The Sancerre wins for cleaner pairings; the lighter red wins for the more vegetal, sweet-leaning bites. "It's good to have a little bit of controversy here on Three Blind Wines," the room agreed.

This is episode two. The show is still finding its language. Both contestants are charming about the format. Editing, as I said off-mic, is going to be key.