Tasting Room Confidential » wine blends

Speed Tasting Reds at 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference

mk — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:30:54 +0000

How 300 wine bloggers were able to sip through this speed tasting of reds after a six-hour school bus mystery winery tour, I can only attribute to our reconnection to the hotel’s Wi-Fi. That blast of energy buzzed us back to reality and once seated, we got back to the sport of speed tasting. One hour, twelve wines, ring that cowbell!

Desert Wind 2008 Ruah, Wahluke Slope, WA. Red/black fruit, soft mouth, rich full body, round, spice, long finish, well-balanced, earthy like forest floor. A fine Bordeaux blend.

Duck Pond 2008 Red Blend, Wahluke Slope, WA. Forward black fruit, spice, short dry finish. An easy drinker, pleasant, companionable. $15

Trio 2007 Riot Columbia Valley, WA. Fresh sweet fruit, rich body, toffee, spicy, mellow, lush palate. Sippable as well as food friendly. $18

Stoller 2007 JV Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, OR. Light red, bright, fresh cherry, long finish, approachable. Attractive to a broad market. $25

Stepping Stone by Cornerstone 2008 Cabernet Franc, Carneros, CA. Floral, tobacco leaf, black cherry/berry, medium body, great acidity. Intriquing and alluring. $30

Solena 2008 Pinot Noir, Hyland Vineyard, Willamette Valley, OR. Ripe red /black fruit, good acid, mineral, long warm finish. $50

Concannon 2007 Conservancy Petite Sirah, Livermore Valley, CA. Deep dark, bold, plummy, big soft tannins, spice. Teeth staining terrific. $19

Jordan 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, CA. Elegant, good acid, blue/blackberry, vanilla, wood. Great food wine. $52

Due to technical issues, I didn’t get video of the Mollydooker 2009 Velvet Glove Shiraz tasting, but the controversy it aroused makes me want to say something. This wine retails for $180 but I didn’t know that at the time I made these notes: medicinal nose, forward fruit, spicy, black, purple fruit, thick, syrupy, strong, bold, massive, thick legs, tarry, 15.% alcohol. I said to the guy, “Is this meant to be a dessert wine? which is almost what it is. Like a late harvest zinfandel, just this side of a port. All I can say is, its fuzzy label was probably very expensive.

More later about that mystery wine tour. Meanwhile, viva España!

Speed Tasting Whites at 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference

mk — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:50:23 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered what Live Blogging is about, think of speed dating with wine. Winemakers have five minutes to woo bloggers with their wine before the next winemaker comes along to do the same. Bloggers have five minutes to swirl, sniff, sip and type their impressions, pausing only to ask questions and maybe make a joke or two.

At the 2010 Wine Blogger Conference last week, the speed tasting was broken into two sessions: whites on Friday, reds on Saturday. Each table saw twelve wines, five minutes each, for a total of one hour.

At my table was fellow British Columbian, Tim Vandergrift, making the astute comment on sauv blanc, as well as Sasha Kadey of King Estates, and Gretchen Neuman. Here are the notes I was able to pound out while trying to give each winery a modicum of attention. These appear in the same order as the video.

Desert Wind 2009 Viognier. Perfume, floral, melon, crisp, lemon, round body, good acid,

Long Shadows 2009 Poet’s Leap Riesling. Crisp, fresh, lively finish, nuts, steeling, mineral, zesty, fresh fruit, beautiful

Maryhill 2008 Viognier. Apple, pear, nuts, full body, vanilla, minty finish, round, rich.

Hogue Genesis 2008 Chardonnay. Clean, fresh fruit, mineral, apple, lively acid, zesty. Dry, citrus, pear, nutty finish.

Buty (pronounced beauty) 2008 Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadell. Citrus fruit, perfume, mineral, zesty, good acidity, dry finish.

Dusted Valley Rosé. Strawberry, cherry, mellow mouth, fresh fruit.

DeLille Cellars 2008 Chaleur Estate Blanc – Sauv/Semillon. Petrol nose, ripe fruit, lemon, lime, rich mouth, honey, fig, well balanced.

Banfi Centine Bianco. Gooseberry, grassy, sweet green lime, guava fruit, lively, fresh, easy to drink.

And that’s just the whites! Stay tuned for Speed Tasting Reds, coming next week.

Wine Bloggers Conference 2010 Blog Awards

mk — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:04:23 +0000

The 3^rd Annual Wine Bloggers Conference started off with a bang last Friday afternoon in Walla Walla, Washington as the staff of Mutineer magazine announced the winners of the 2010 Wine Blog Awards. Having not been nominated for any of the categories, I can still humbly say the winners were powerfully flavored, well balanced and punchy.

They were:

Best Blog Overall – 1 Wine Dude

Best Industry News – Good Grape

Best Wine Reviews – Bigger than Your Head

Best Winery Blog Award – Been Doon So Long

Best Single Subject Blog – New York Cork Report

Best Blog Writing – Catavino

Best New Blog – Swirl Smell Slurp

Best Graphics – Good Grape

If you’ve never been to a Wine Bloggers Conference I can only describe it as ZAP meets MacExpo. Hundreds of tech-minded eonophiles eagerly swirling and sipping hundreds of wines while furiously twittering impressions. Perhaps you’ve seen tweets over the weekend, punctuated with #WBC10 hashtags? That was us.

This year, WBC broke out of California and brought the conference to little Walla Walla, one of the most isolated wine countries in America. Out of the way, on the border of Oregon, Walla Walla has retained its historic charm with a vibrant downtown district that has as many storefront tasting rooms as Healdsburg, California. The town opened its door wide for the wine bloggers and threw an after hours street party for us on Friday night, effectively creating a wine crawl from tasting room to tasting room to the beat of live bands. Very cool.

More stuff happened that I will tell you about in upcoming posts, after I process more videos.

Next up: Speed Tasting, or speed dating with winemakers. On Thursday I’ll have the Whites portion up.

Thank you WBC, Walla Walla and wine industry sponsors for such a great time this weekend.
We Wuved Walla Walla!