Wine: Wine Tasting as Project

I have been taking a wine class (Actually 2, Wines of the World I and Wine & Food Pairing) in order to drink some neat wines and learn what really goes into wine. So far it has worked. Unfortunately in academia you're expected to do work and-or projects. So our professor had to assign us a project. It was quite an open ended project requirement, which was great. I started out with the idea of making an artsy corkscrew out of our used wine corks. But I am a procrastinator for things I'm not fervently interested in, so that was delayed too long. Although it would be a neat piece of wine art. I found out that you could host a wine tasting and it would count (just had to take some pictures and write up a little thing on it: maybe this blog post counts).

My roommates and I regularly host wine tastings, so how would this be any different? I decided to make it a blind wine tasting. Not double blind, as I am not rich and cannot afford the double blind Zinfandel glasses (my roommate has one, just one) for a large event. And I would ask my guests to write down various things about the wine: sight, smell, taste, what type of wine they think it is (varietal/blend), where it was grown, year it was grown and its price. I probably asked them to write all that stuff down to make it seem more academic and official. But there was a neat side effect, this request resulted in some pretty funny perceptions on paper about the wines. Academically speaking, that is where the interesting stuff is. New people to wine were trying to describe things that take "years of training" to describe. There are a few examples below (click for larger image), the more funny examples.

So I had to buy some wines, and knowing it would be blind I had to fool my sommelier roommate. I figured I would try and split the night evenly between whites and reds (my ideal is all red all day) so that gave me a little more guide as to what I was buying. I spent a good amount of time perusing the isles of Marketview Liquor, looking for some tricky wines and some of my favorites.

For wine A, the start of the night, I chose a light, refreshing Sauvignon Blanc made by Bogle in 2006. It is a California Sauvignon Blanc. I chose it because I have enjoyed Bogle's other varietals in the past. It was $7.99 a bottle.

For wine B I chose a trickster. A blend involving Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion. This was made by Casa Silva in 2005. A Chilean Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion blend. Chilean wines are always a great deal at $6.99 a bottle.

Wine C was time to move onto a sweet trickster. I knew I wanted to bring a German Riesling to the party but how could I fool my roommate. Also I wanted a decently late harvested Riesling, just for kicks. I chose Rienhold Haart's Spatlese from 2005. German Riesling's can get quite pricy and this ran $22.99 a bottle.

Wine D was going to be a Chardonnay. Chardonnay is one of the most popular wines and denying it some exposure at this wine tasting wasn't going to happen. But who's Chardonnay? Having just picked out two $23 bottles of Riesling I wanted a "value". So the Virgin bottle in the Chardonnay section caught my eye. I have had Virgin's (yes Richard Branson Virgin) Shiraz before and I enjoyed that (think wet leaf, mmm, or wet forest floor. delicious) so a $9.99 bottle was acceptable. (2005 Virgin Chardonnay - California)

Now I needed to move onto reds but first we needed to clear the palette. What better way to clear a palette than with bubbly. Again price mattered with the bubbly, a good French Champagne can run tons and might not be enjoyed by most of the people attending. So why wouldn't I go with the easy drinking Yellowtail Sparkling that was just released at the end of 2007. It is cheap and easy. So I picked up two bottles at $7.99 a pop.

While shopping in the bubbly section a Sparkling Shiraz caught my eye. Sparkling Shiraz I thought, what an awesome trick to pull on my roommate. Two bubblies and one was going to be deep red (or purple). There are more Sparkling Shiraz than you might think there should be. I had never heard of them before so it was definitely time to get one. So I picked up Paringa Sparkling Shiraz which was bottled in 2004 and made in the land that is so famous for its Shiraz: Australia. It was only $7.99, which was a steal for how delicious it turned out.

So now that I had whites and bubblies I needed some reds. I knew what wine E would be as It was my favorite Pinot Noir to date: Belle Valle' Pinot Noir. It was made in Willamette Valley in Oregon. Willamette is known for their Pinot Noir and Wine Spectator agrees with me on this wine: 88 points for only $10.99 a bottle (from 2006). I love this wine and will drink bottle upon bottle of it, and have.

I was getting pretty tired so I decided to pick up a Shiraz I've had for the final wine, wine F. Tim Adams' "The Benefit" Shiraz is pretty good. Also the proceeds go to a good cause, so it's a total feel good wine. Sunny Australia makes beautiful Shiraz and this was no exception. At $7.99 it is also a good deal for a Australian Shiraz from 2004.

The tasting went great. An open door during the tasting attracted even non invited people, which was great. Getting people into wine was the point and I'm pretty sure we've born some more winos here at RIT. Good wine, good people and good food make for a good time. We ended up finishing off about 19 bottles of wine, 8 of which came out late. The low alcohol, sweet italian sparkling. Saracco, which I did not have a drop of. Otherwise the most popular wine of the night was probably the Riesling. The red lovers really enjoyed the Pinot.

I would like to thank everyone who came, and especially my roommate G. Jeremy Leong for helping with the setup and my co-host Ryan Seeber for bringing some delicious cheeses and crackers. Also we do these a lot, so if you're interested don't be afraid to ask if you can come.

If you like Facebook try this link out for pictures: http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082182&l=09e25&id=24400104

Otherwise here are some gems from the night.