Wine tasting results

Okay, so here we are post wine tasting...a little tipsy...

We started the evening with 4 bottles in brown paper bags labeled with numbers. We then began by giving each other wine tasting names for the evening. I (Lacy) was deemed Brie, Simon was name Supreme which latter changed to S.O. which stands for "smooth operator". Our friends were named Destiny, Remi "raging ego maniac", and Jezzabel aka "Jezzi". We tasted all of the wines, along with some cheese and bread, and made tasting notes. Then we did the big reveal. We had 3 pinots: 1) King Estates 2005, 2) Willammette Valley 2006 3) Woodbridge 2006, and finally 4) a Yellow Tail shiraz. We had to note what we tasted, a food pairing, and finally rank order them in terms of taste and estimated price. The King Estates 2005 was ranked the favorite by all. In close second was the Woodbridge and the Yellow Tail. We all really liked the Yellow Tail and ranked it among the most pricey. (Note to selft: buy stock in yellow Tail wine) Finally, none of us really like the Willammette Valley Pinot. This was a dissappointment. I noted that it tasted of unripe strawberries and everyone agreed that was a perfect description.

However, after a few glasses everything tasted really good.

To pair with the wine we grilled salmon. I took some advice from my dad and made it with a brown sugar coating, but diverged from his recipe and grilled it on a cedar plank. It was fabulous!!!!!! We paired it with a yummy salad, grillled veggies, and some coconut rice. I must admit it was close to a perfect dinner.

Finally, we ended the night with a fruit tart brought by Jezzi and some chocolate that we brought back from Cork (one of our friends is from Cork, lived there until he was 4 and still has family there). We opened up the dessert wine which, in my opinion , had gone bad. Simon really liked it, but the rest of us agreed that it had turned into blackberry vinegar. Yucky! Luckily our friends are going to a wedding at Edgefield this summer and said they would bring us back a fresh bottle.

We all agreed that this tasting event was a lot of fun and that we would do it again. Perhaps a seasonal event is in order... this summer I think we will go for rieslings. I must say, if you have the chance do a blinded tasting event, and don't let your wine sit for too long. We have learned our lesson. Drink early and often!