Friday, April 4, 2008

Knights of the Vine

We held our first Knightly meeting last night at the winery. It was very enjoyable. Winemaker took it a step further than I even thought he was going to. I knew the meetings were going to be very informative and that he was going to explain alot about the wines that we were tasting but he is taking things a step further, which I really appreciate. He is taking us all the way from the vine to the bottle. This week he discussed bottle shapes and colors, what shapes and colors go with what wines and how it all got started and so on. Each meeting we will have a different topic before we begin our tasting. This will help with our appreciation of wine even if we don't like a perticular kind at least we will be able to enjoy it's qualities. I for one like to know what I'm doing and why in order to feel like I'm doing something well, but that's just me. Healso said at some point we will get to taste Opus One. That stuff runs any where from 150 to 300 per bottle. That my friend is worth my membership fee right there.
The menu last night were all red zinfandels. I learned that I am not a big fan of red zin, however, I did find two that were drinkable. Here is our list...
#1 A. Mano
#2 Sutter Home
#3 Francis Ford Copola
#4 Gnarly Head
#5 Dancing Bull
#6 Legends

Of course Legends won! No really... He didn't even want us to tast his because it wasn't finished he pulled it straight out of the barrel....unfiltered....and it smelled soooooooo good the aroma was to die for, chocolate and cinnamon like I can't even find words to describe. It is also so much smoother than the others almost like velvet, which makes it not like a red zin at all, so he says it is an unfair comparison. Therefore if you take that on out of the mix, I'm not a big red zin fan, but, Francis Ford Copola was in my opinion definately drinkable. I think everyone else agreed as well, it seemed to be the most popular of the evening......other than Winemakers.

4 comments:

mornin'lady said...

Great post half pint!! I really enjoyed it, keep posting these so we can all learn what you do :) and I for one will be waiting for your opinion on the Opus One
In your opinion how does the white zinfandel compare with the red???
We need to get together again!!

Half Pint said...

White zin is usually sweet and fruity... red zin is dry.... usually has an oak flavor but lighter in character than a cabernet.

Course of Perfection said...

Sounds like you ladies had a very informative evening. Glad yall enjoyed it.

The Friendly Neighborhood Piper said...

Opus 1 for that?! Hmmm...wanna see some wine for 10X that? No, i'm not joking.