Sunday, July 20, 2008

Wino is my name, Wine Tasting is my game

Hola from sunny San Diego.

Yesterday we participated in a wine tasting. There were over 50 different wines up for tastings. This was the first wine tasting I have really gone into. And I have to say, the people running the booths really weren't in the mood to be there. With a few exceptions, most of them could have cared less about talking about the wines they had available. This was very sad for me. I wanted to really do this. And on top of all this; we had the special passes which allowed unlimited tastings, others were based on tickets. So the staff would do double pours. No matter how often I said just a taste please they would do these double pours. This is great if you want to just drink...but after a few you start to loose you taste and nose. So as the tasting went on I was more and more likely to dump the wines I didn't like. I felt bad. Felt like I was wasting, but whatever, not my problem...if you can't listen to me, I'm going to have to dump your wine out!

All that said, I did have a great time with a handful of the wineries. My favorites are below.

(Sadly I don't remember too much of most of them, so the photos of the labels are the only thing I have to remind me.)


Big Tattoo
Riesling

Straight Jacket
Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon
This was my favorite sauvignon blanc. Nice and dry, crisp.

Hazard Hill
Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc

Donati
Claret
A nice red, but it was just too warm to drink red wine.

Menage a Trois
Blend of 3 whites
(moscato, chardonnay, chenin blanc)
Oddly, this was favorite wine of the day. There was a great nose (chenin), nice body (chard) and a little sweet (moscato). Per my comment on the claret above, the opposite is true, this was a great wine to drink on a very warm day. Bring this one home for a warm day of lounging on you patio or porch. If you don't like sweet, you probably won't like this. It's not cloying sweet, but it's pronounced.

Innocent Bystander
Moscato
A light, sweet, bubbly pink. Fun. A little silly, happy and enjoyable. This is more sweet than the Menage a Trois.

5 comments:

Stef said...

What great labels!

I'm in need of a good wine-tasting trip. I've only been to one VA winery this year - Bluemont - though I *loved* their peach wine. Should get me some more of that!

The Kara said...

If we have a chance when you visit, we'll go to the Wine Library on your next visit. Gary Vaynerchuck (sp?) does these amazing podcasts on Itunes and their website with his own wine tastings - it's very interesting. I like Menage A Trois as well - our palates must be similar!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, um, so B and I owe you wine. We drank. A lot. On Friday.

But the house is all good!

ScottE. said...

Hope you drank the bad stuff!!!

Actually I think there was only one bottle of good stuff and I can usually find it pretty easily.

Anonymous said...

If the good stuff was your favorite, yeah, we drank that too. But B is buying you a bottle to make up for it!