It was a bold experiment. Sommeliers from Seattle’s big name restaurants—plus some local food and wine critics—were invited to a blind tasting and lunch at Canlis. Their task: To test how Yellow Tail Reserve wines stacked up against some of Australia’s more prestigious (and pricier) wines.

John Casella, Managing Director of Yellow Tail, was fresh off the plane from Down Under and looked ready to pass out at the table, so he wisely turned the show over to Doug Frost, wine expert and consummate wise-cracker—not to mention one of only three people in the world who hold the title of both Master Sommelier and Master of Wine.

Frost began by explaining that a blind test is the only way to keep things honest. The guests, most with sommelier pins decorating their lapels, swirled, sniffed, sipped and spit the first flight of shirazes, while Frost assured them this was not a competition. No one was buying it. Frost worked the crowd like a game show host, eliciting comments on each unnamed glass. Proclamations of “pomegranate molasses” and “cherry compote with hints of brandy” or “lemon thyme” or “monolithic” rang out. This was most certainly a competition, and everyone was out to win. Who could identify the elusive notes without benefit of a label? For a while it was the sommelier from Matt’s in the Market versus the one from Café Juanita, but a sommelier in the back of the room pulled ahead with the words “sesame soy,” earning Frost’s approval. The MC himself deftly swung between expert analysis of tannins and alcohol levels to more pithy analytical labels like “shitty.”

When the group moved on to cabernet sauvignons, the competition reached a fever pitch. The guests leaned forward in their chairs, practically shouting “figgy” or “wet wool” or “angular”, while Frost weighed their offerings. A heated debate as to the presence of violet or sauerkraut notes in glass number eight ensued, and I began to wonder how much wine was really being spit back into the red plastic cups set out for that purpose.

In the end, when the names of the wines were revealed, the Yellow Tail wines stacked up favorably. There was some visible disgruntlement from those who chose the $11 bottle over the $60 one, but the sommeliers shook hands all around, (no hard feelings), and the sharp sting of defeat was softened by a free (not to mention delicious) lunch of prawns, smoked duck breast with forest mushroom risotto, and braised beef short rib.