Per my last post, I did in fact go to local wine bar Max’s Wine Dive for the first of their wine tasting summer series, Le Tour Du Vin :) The country theme for this wine tasting was “America – California, Washington, Oregon”. (Future country themes include France, Spain, Australia/New Zealand, and South America).
My parents and I had to bust out our mad wine tasting skills as the event was only an hour and a half and as VIP guests we had 15 wines to go through. On top of that, we had a crowd full of people to maneuver through and network with. Game faces were required.
To challenge the time crunch even more, I had to get all ‘wine blogger’ on everyone and jot down notes on the wines I was tasting. Ah, the challenges wine bloggers have to go through :P
My original game plan was to taste all the wines once through and then go back and take photos of the ones that I wanted to blog about, but I have the gift of gab and after all my networking was said and done, the wine bottles had been already been picked up (minus a few) so some of the wine pics are going to be from the internet :) {Must remember for future tastings … take photos as you go, you can always erase them later}
Moving along, the tasting was set up with 11 wines (5 white, 1 rose, 5 red) to begin and then 5 VIP wines for those who paid a bit extra to taste them. Of the 10 beginning wines, the ones that impressed me the most were:
The Etude Pinot Noir Rosé from Carneros, CA – This wine was delicious! This was a dry rosé and incredibly smooth. It danced with subtle aromas of light red fruits, hints of earthy notes and it had a flirty tartness to it. It was one of those wines that grabs your attention. Retail this wine runs about $20-25.
The Argyle ‘Nut House’ Pinot Noir from Willamette, OR – What a gorgeous wine! It had fabulous aromas of vanilla, baking blueberry pie, notes of spices and wood, and hints of chocolate covered almonds. This wine retails for $40-45 but was available at this event for $33!
Ponzi Pinot Gris from Willamette, OR – This was a pleasant wine. Seemed like one of those “drink on the patio on a hot summer day” kind of wines with its light tropical citrus notes, floral and stone fruit flavors, and that little kiss of sweetness and acidity at the end. This wine retails for $15.
Just shortly after I made my way into the red wines of the 11 beginning wines, my mom called me over to taste one of the VIP wines that was out of this world. There was just one problem … there was a total of 10 drops of it left in the bottle. Ugggh! I was so sad. Then I realized what had happened … and this is where I begin my WINE TASTING ETIQUETTE RANT !!!!! When you are at a wine tasting DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT KEEP RETURNING FOR MULTIPLE TASTINGS OF A BOTTLE OR BOTTLES and by MULTIPLE TASTINGS I mean, DON’T DRINK THE WHOLE BOTTLE! LEAVE SOME FOR THE OTHER PAYING TASTERS TO TASTE. Now I am not above revisiting a wine when I really enjoy it, but there was a group of people sitting near the table with the VIP wines and all they were doing the whole tasting drinking up the VIP wines. And people like me who are actually there to taste it, write about it, and tell others about this wine CAN’T DO IT CAUSE YOU DRANK IT ALL!!! I know those tend to be the yummy wines, but please, if you like a wine that much … dig deep in your pocket and BUY THE WINE so then it will be appropriate for you TO DRINK THE WHOLE THING! Ahhhhhhh! Wine tastings are not BUFFETS!
Did my frustration come through in that “Wine Tasting Etiquette Rant”? Grrrr!! Ok … Breathe Ceci Sipper, Breathe.
Oh 2008 Girard Cabernet Franc, how I wish I could have had more than 10 drops of you …
Aaaanyways … back to the VIP wines I actually was able to taste …
2009 Girard Chardonnay, oh how I loved thee. This wine had an amazing and passionate love affair with my mouth. Woooah! This wine could kick some major Burgundy Chardonnay butt! I just feel like a lemon, a tropical fruit, a stone, and some acidity got all fresh in my mouth! Yumm! This wine retails for $25-30.
The next mad love affair I had was with the 2007 Willakenzie “Emery” Pinot Noir.
I am not even kidding, the second I put this bad boy up to my nose and then to my lips, I made “sounds” like Meg Ryan did in “When Harry Met Sally”.
This dancing aromas of this Pinot Noir were of dark fruits, black tea, chocolate and cinnamon. It made my mouth water with its balanced acidity and richness. This wine retails for $40-45. At this event though, it was $36!
After the tasting, my parents and I decided the night was still young and we chipped in for a few bottles with some fellow wine tasters we met. One of the more special bottles we bought was a bubbly and it was to celebrate the birthday of our fabulous server, Eric. Next time you are at Max’s Wine Dive be sure to ask for Eric!
I hope to see y’all out there for Max’s Wine Dive’s next “Le Tour Du Vin” wine tasting on July 7th. It is gonna rockin’!
A 15% wine and you wanted more? What a lush! LOLjk I’ve never actually tasted a wine stronger than 13.8%. Then again, I’m still somewhat of a newbie. I can say, however, that my experience (or lack of) has made me come to the conclusion that the stronger the wine, the dryer it is. How about you?
Lol. “Please Sir, can I have some more?” … I would have to say it all depends on the winemaking style. I have tasted 15+% that was superbly balanced and delightful and not so dry then I have tasted some that burned like hard liquor.