Life in Wine

Just what the Title says! Life in Wine. MY Life in Wine.

Name:
Location: Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Opinionated. Lover of Wine.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

You must remember this. . .

Whatever is the MATTER with these people?

Look, wine tastings are a swell idea, and FREE wine tastings even more wonderful. But Good God Almighty, there were more than 20 wines up for sipping at the Cellar Rat monthly staff picks tasting. Twenty wines! It is quite simply too much of a good thing.

I say this not only because this sort of generosity must surely lead the undisciplined straight down the thoroughfare to a drunken driving charge – but because my eager, frantic tastebuds just CANNOT keep up. There’s a REASON I only hit two, maybe three, wineries in the course of an entire day in California: After four or five sips, my palate is fried.

Not that that stopped me at this late September outing. I’m an admitted lightweight, so I have learned to dump wines after one or two measured sips. But still. . . I can’t recall half the wines I tried.

Here is what I remember, with the aid of my increasingly indecipherable notes: I tried something called Josef Ehmoser Gruner Veltliner, an Austrian white wine that I found quite tasty. I think I’ve seen it on the menu at my favorite restaurant, Pot Pie. I tried a Territorial Pinot Noir, and I actually LIKED it! I had a Maddalena Cabernet that was good, a Carr Chardonnay that didn’t do much for me; and the Foris Gewurztraminer, okay as far as it went.

I sipped at a few Hayman & Hill selections, but can’t recall anything standing out. I remember enjoying the Block 13 Cabernet, and I meant to purchase it, but I didn’t. I couldn’t remember to buy it; I kept moving happily from tasting station to tasting station, in no particular order, oh what’s THIS? I must try THIS, and what is THAT?

Girlfriend resonated to the compelling tone of the Lake Breeze Cabernet-Shiraz, an Aussie effort with a unique, distinct eucalyptus nose. I thought it commendable as well, but was leaning toward the Block 13 Cabernet, with half a mind to snatch up the Lodali Barolo. And yet, at the last moment, I opted for the Saracco Moscato D’Asti as my chosen take-home bottle.

A Moscato D’Asti. A sweet, white, Italian sparkler. Who ever could have seen THAT coming? Whether my palate had been knocked senseless by the sheer number of flavors experienced, or whether it was as special and interesting as I discerned through a brain as fermented as my tongue, we’ll see. I’m trying it Saturday.

I must be more judicious in my approach at the next mega-tasting. I really must.