Hello, I'm a Geek. Hi Geek.

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I think I've just about hit the pinnacle of low-tech geekdom.

Yesterday was our monthly bookclub meeting. Our bookclub meets at restaurants, something that might be connected to the theme of the book. But more often, just affordable and accessible.

Last night we went somewhere new to me, so I was checking out the restaurant's website and looking at the menu. It looked pretty nice, but then I clicked to the restaurant's wine selections. I saw what I thought I would want.

Soon I found myself googling the wines and printing tasting notes for those wines. Yes, I printed the notes to bring with me to the restaurant to compare while tasting the wine. I'm nuts. Really I am. I fully admit it.

I will say, it was great to have someone's professional tasting notes while I was spending some time with the wine. I was able to look for flavor notes that I wouldn't have known to look for and I was able to point to personal contradictions between my impression and the professional notes; if that makes any sense.

So it was a fun experiment and if the opportunity presents itself again in the future, I will do the same thing.

The Wines:

Tangent
Sauvignon Blanc
Edna Valley, California

Notes from the winemaker: It highlights grapefruit, passion fruit, green apple and lemon, and has a good grassy structure of minerals and lively acidity.

My Thoughts: I certainly got the green apple and minerality, but not much else. I felt the nose was so very subtle, it was hardly there. It was a tasty wine, but not very complex to me.

Benzinger
Sauvignon Blanc
Sonoma Valley, California

Notes from the winemaker: Stainless steel fermentation preserves the bright, crisp character of our Sauvignon Blanc. Grassy aromas introduce flavors of lemon, melon and grapefruit. Generous fruit is enhanced by a refreshing acidic structure and harmonious mouthfeel.

My Thoughts: This wine seemed to have more personality to me. Well, it's personality was more up-front and very extroverted. The grapefruit was the prominent flavor for me, preceeded by a lovely warm grass aroma.

I preferred the Benzinger over the Tangent. As I shared with my dinner guests, I don't think my palate is refined enough to pick up the subtle, introverted notes of the Tangent wine, so I preferred the more in-your-face bright, acidic, crisp flavors of the Benzinger.

On the price scale, the two wines have the same suggested retail price, however the restaurant had the Tangent as the more expensive wine. So yippee for me, the cheaper one was my favorite!