September 9, 2010 (Thu): Loosen your cork at our next Winemaker's event Join us Thursday September 9th starting at 7:00 p.m. David Babich, General Manager of Babich Wines from New Zealand and our Executive Chef Ron Gibb will be presenting a feast of great food paired with five great wines. Our new […]
September 9, 2010 (Thu): On Thursday, September 9, Adesso Bistro welcomes Jonas Greig, Assistant Winemaker of Laughing Stock Vineyards, for an evening of delicious Italian fare paired perfectly with Laughing Stock wines. Executive Chef Sean Sylvestre has crafted a five-course menu that st[…]
September 12, 2010 (Sun): We are so excited that Luke and his son Daniel are sharing their wines with us. Come and try these amazing reds from Naramata Bench. You can also ask Daniel what it's like to stomp on grapes.[…]
September 15, 2010 (Wed): School may be back in session but it is not too late for a final fling. Let house wine take you on a brief vacation to the south of France where the summer sun lingers well into September. The regions of the Languedoc, Roussillon and Provence may not have the cach[…]
September 15, 2010 (Wed): This is the perfect class for the wine lover who wants to expand their knowledge and lay the foundations for further exploration. Learn how to write a constructive tasting note, discover what differentiates wines of high and low quality and learn what about you like […]
September 17, 2010 (Fri): Celebrity chefs, popular local restaurants, wineries, food and beverage manufacturers, cookbook authors, retailers, artisans, and many others from the culinary world will come together for a three day public extravaganza at the Tradex Exhibition Centre. EAT! Fraser Valley e[…]
September 18, 2010 (Sat): A sit down tasting with Allen featuring classic examples of all the major appellations of Burgundy, with a few hidden gems thrown in for good measure. Allen will guide us through each wine as he speaks about the appellation, producer and recent trends and de[…]
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.
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!
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.
The 3rd 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.
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!
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