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NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'. Here we go with Round Two of the Wine Bloggers Conference speed sipping, slurping, spitting and blogging extravaganza. As with the whites, we were given five minutes to absorb not just the wine itself but also the story of the winery and the process of the winemaking. A challenge, to be sure, but a good one. So I present to you the ten wines brought to our table, just as they were described at the time (with typos corrected to protect the innocent).  J. Lohr Pinot Noir J Lohr Falcon's Perch Pinot Noir 2012 Award winning and inky $17. Slighty smokey- succulent silky strawberry. 13.5% alcohol means really drinkable. Can we say BBQ salmon with something chocolaty for afters?  Westerly from Santa Barbara County Westerly Fletcher's Red 2010 Bordeaux style blend from Happy Canyon AVA . Black juicy berry meets licorice and black plum. Dark cocoa and earth and terrific balance of fruit acid and tannin keeps this rich and balanced. Sip alone or try with some braised short ribs. Winemaker hails from Harlan Estate. Need I say more?  BevMo's own from Sonoma Main and Geary Dry Creek Zinfandel 2011 Big and plush palate zin from BevMo Private label series $19.95 and even less when you go to the 5 cent sale. Heat up the grill and get your party started with this very quaffable wine.  Not your typical Napa winery! Cornerstone Cellars 'The Cornerstone’ Napa Valley 2011. Releasing this September & made to be aged for 10 years plus. Blend Cab Sauv/ Merlot/ Cab Franc. Everything is there: acidity, tannin and plummy cassis fruit blending all together. Balanced wine to savor in the years to come. Only 100 cases.  Little Winery, Big Hart. White Hart Pinot Noir 2012 Santa Lucia Highlands Central Coast 2012 40 year old vines in this cooler AVA brings out dark strawberry aromas with juicy red currants and subtle clove nutmeg spice. An elegant feminine Pinot made for sipping or cuisine. Delicious.  Photo Courtesy of Banfi Wines. Banfi Centine Rosso 2012 Banfi Wines are in the house. Sangio-Merlot marriage is your everyday "let's have some wine with dinner" vino and at around $10-12 you can make this tasty little fellow your house wine. The soil is limestone dominant so we have great structure welding together cherry, berry and a bit of tar with great palate cleansing acidity. Bueno.  Saperavi is the variety - Marani Winery 2008 Satrapezo Saperavi from Georgia - the country! The grape is native to Georgia and the juice as well as the skin is red giving the wine a deep opaque hue. Rustic and earthy with plummy notes. Interesting.  Aridus Syrah from Arizona Aridus 2012 Syrah The winery is in Arizona but while they wait for the vines to produce they have sourced from the Russian River for this vintage. Dried sage herbs and black fruit with solid tannins would be good compliment to grilled meats and root veg.  Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Charles Krug Howell Mt Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 Broody and big with dark fruit and cocoa tobacco leaf. A touch of Petit Verdot and all French oak ups the anti on this voluptuous red. Prime Rib is calling.  Ottimino-Exclusively Zinfandel Ottimino Vineyard 2011 Russian River Valley Zinfandel Cooler climate means longer, slower ripening so higher acidity and low alcohol- for a Zin!! Dark strawberry jam and cassis with black Dutch licorice, tealeaf and vanilla bean. Thinking some Tex-Mex. NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'.
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NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'. How many wines can you taste, describe and put into the social media stratosphere in, say fifty minutes? If you had been attending the 7th Annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Barbara County, CA a few weeks ago, you would have to say ten, because that's exactly what we did! The theory is this: bring together over 300 wine bloggers from around the world and seat them at large round banquet tables in the ballroom of the Santa Ynez Marriott. Every 5 minutes, have a winemaker or winery representative come to the table to pour wine samples and talk about the wines and the winery. The bloggers taste and assess, then Tweet, blog or Facebook their comments about the wine (plus any other interesting tidbits they can squeeze in) and the process is repeated. The action reached a fever pitch after about the second wine as everyone asked questions, swirled, and sipped while tapping away on smartphones, tablets and laptops. Day one was for Whites and Rosés. Sadly my table didn't see any pink wines but we reviewed an interesting array of whites. Here, with typos corrected, is a recap:  Bianchi Pinot Grigio 2012 1) Bianchi Pinot Grigio 2012. Smooth but palate fresh. Dried grasses mingle with citrus ripe melon and somewhat cozy finish coming in at 13.7pc alc. Go Paso.
 Bandit Pinot Grigio 2012 3) Bandit 2012 Pinot Grigio Tetra Pack time. CA grapes-Napa Sonoma and Central Coast. Enviro friendly is great and at 8 bucks retail cud work for picnic. Light refreshing and crisp.  Leatitia Brut Cuvee NV 4) Laetitia Brut Cuvee NV Sparkle time. Chard Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc from Arroyo Grande. Cool green apple and soft peachy fizzle. Sustainable vineyards and great cool climate make good sparkling. Fun and frothy.  Consilience Viognier 2012 5) 2012 Consilience Viognier All local Santa Barbara AVA fruit vinified to make food friendly vino. Neutral French oak - 14 months gives soft vanilla spice, cinnamon toast to go with ripe plump apricot. Voluptuous as Viognier shud be but nice acidity keeps to that food friendly vibe and goal.  Rios de Chile Sauvignon Blanc 2013 6) Rios de Chile 2013 Sauvignon Blanc Minimal intervention to keep varietal character. AM fog and proximity to the sea show in crisp clean granny smith apple and citrus peel notes. Grantic and sandy clay soils. Great food-seafod-salad wine. Try it- I will.  Jordan Russian River Chardonnay 2012 7) Jordan 2012 Russian River Chardonnay 40pc new French oak for 4 months keeps this approachable and food compatible. Really racy acidity enhances nuanced fruit. Super summer fare companion and might make your ABC friends change their minds.  Buttonwood 'Zingy' Sauvignon Blanc 2013 8) Buttonwood Zingy Sauvignon Blanc 2013. All estate fruit - all stainless and cool ferment. Hence the name Zingy perhaps? Laid back aromas of green melon and crisp apples. Bring on the fried chicken and potato salad!  Aridus Malvasia Bianca 2013 9) Aridus Malvasia Bianca 2013 Arizona's challenging climate and high elevations are no threat to Aridus Winery of Cochise County. Grapes from New Mexico. Neutral oak for few months but still highly aromatic. If you love Moscato you will flip for Malvasia - fruit salad in a glass with clean finish.  Danza del Sol Vermentino 2013 10) 2013 Danza del Sol Vermentino Temecula Valley. I have to like this or they will kick me out of my house right? Lime and tangerine on big nose. All stainless shows peachy palate. Come to Temecula and grab a glass on the patio. So, there you have it. Ten wine reviews in 50 minutes. It was noisy, challenging and a lot of fun. So much fun that we repeated the exercise the next day with reds! Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon.
NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'. |
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