Wine Tastings II

Last night we tasted the lineup from Waterstone of Napa Valley. I had talked up this line for a week in emails, phone calls, facebook, and here in the blog. The turnout was good and the wines sold acceptably well. The best seller understandably was the Cabernet; the weakest, surprisingly was the Chardonnay. All others sold equally well including the "Study in Blue" red blend ($45/btl) which clearly delivered on its promise of superiority.

Here's what surprised me. I had tasted these wines a week earlier and had determined that the Merlot and Syrah were the best outside of "Study". Last night I thought the Cabernet and Pinot Noir were clearly better than the other reds. What gives? One difference from a week ago was the length of time the bottles had been open. A week ago the wines had been open for 24 hours by the time they came to me. Last night we opened them all at five o'clock and I tasted the Pinot at seven o'clock. The reds are all stylistically "tight" and need time to open up. Apparently 24 hours was a good amount of time for some of them.

By the way, we decanted "Study" at five o'clock anticipating the time element and it was luscious.

This paragraph is now being written 24 hours after pulling the corks last night and as luck would have it a customer asked to taste the wines. "Study" and the Pinot were consumed last night (burp) but the Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet all are showing better now than last night. The Syrah and Merlot actually taste like I remembered them from one week prior. These wines are very good in a fleshy/gamey sort of way once they have been open long enough.

The two whites were also quite tasty with the Pinot Gris being a showstopper with its long winey oily flavors. The Chardonnay was just fine with no flaws and may have just been overshadowed by its spectacular predecessor or maybe it was just Chardonnnay fatigue among the tasters.

For another look at the subject of winetasting go to the August 6th blog.

Friday October 7th we will be tasting some combination of French and California Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs with a couple other types thrown into the mix. Please join us here at the store. Cite this blog and get 10% off your purchase that night.