Wine Tasting: December 9, 2008

Tis the season!  Sparkling wine season, that is.  Lisa Brown from Grande Pere joined the small group of us for a tasting and conversation about champagne and sparkling wines. 

Some takeaways from Lisa included:

• Champagne can only be called champagne if it is from the Champagne region in France. 
  
• Typically, the drier the wine/champagne, the more expensive it is.
• When selecting a dessert wine, you should never choose one that is sweeter than the dessert itself

The first wine we tasted was a Prosecco di Conegliano from Italy. The "brut" on the bottle means "dry".  It has a crisp apple taste and is fermented in a stainless steel tank (charmat method).

NV Sommariva Prosecco di Conegliano Brut

Veneto, Italy

100% Prosecco Balbi

The second sparkling wine was a Cava from Spain and was a crowd favorite.  In Barcelona, residents drink more Cava than they export!

2004 Gramona Gran Cuvee Cava Brut

Penedes, Spain

33% Xarello, 33% Macabeo, 33% Parellada

Next was a true champagne (3 years of aging in the bottle).  We learned about the dosage (additional sugar added to the champagne) and the process of riddling. 

NV Champagne A.R. Lenoble Brut Nature

Epernay, Champagne France

35% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier, 35% Pinot Noir

Our final wine was from 100% Moscato grapes and had a sweet peach flavor.  With this wine, we learned that sweeter wines typically have lower alcohol content.

2007 Elvio Tintero Moscato d'Asti Sori Gramella

Piedmont, Italy

100% Moscato

All of these wines are available at Sorella and as long as they're not on sale, you can use your Wine Society discount card!

Wine Tasting: October 28, 2008

We welcomed Jody Sandberg and she brought two Zinfandels and two Cabernets for us to try. Her energy was fantastic and Lauren brought cheese for everyone!  Jody loved zinfandels and told us that, "It's like drinking stars."

The first was a zinfandel from Joel Peterson's vineyard, Ravens Wood.  

 

 

Our second was another zinfandel from Murphy-Goode. As with our first wine, it was made in Sonoma County California. 

 

Our first cabernet was also from Murhpy-Goode and from the Alexander Valley, which is also in Sonoma County.

 

Our last wine was a 2005 cabernet from Louis M. Martini. This was a favorite for many of us!

Wine Tasting: September 30, 2008

Our second tasting of the year went very well. We had the best turn out so far, and the wines were fantastic.  Carl from Salud America Wines brought a variety of Argentian wines. 

Some highlights!

+ The wines were from the Mendoza region which is east of the Andes mountains. 

+ We talked about wine bottle shapes. The edges are called shoulders and are either high, or low. 

Here are the wines that we sampled. 

Wine Tasting: September 16th, 2008

On September 16, 2008, Roy and Dianne from Z Wines USA brought four South African wines to share with us.  We tried two varieties of Chenin Blanc and Pinotage.  Here are a few highlights from what we learned at the tasting and photos of the wines we had. 

South African Wine History

• First vines planed in 1654
  
• 9th largest producer in the world
  
• 560 producers
  
• 54% white wine / 46% red wine
  
• 40% of production is exported

Make sure to use your Sorella card to pick up these wines! 

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