Exploring the Wine Glass March 16, 2016

Fàilte! Welcome to the next installment of Exploring the Wine Glass. Mike and I are big proponents of you should drink what you like and you are the only one who can taste like you. We advocate the fact that everyone experiences the wine differently, so in these posts we do not discuss our tasting notes.  Instead we include basic information about each of the wineries, and/or a bit about what was happening in our lives while we were enjoying them. With that said, if you are interested in reading our tasting notes and our ratings head on over to Delectable and check us out. We tell it as we taste it over there. Click here to see the chart we use to describe the color or if you want to see the wines themselves as they are poured, visit our YouTube Channel and watch for yourself. As always, since as oenophiles we love to celebrate #WineWednesday, our week runs from one Wednesday to the next. 

Week 1

Mike has been in Europe this week. He left on Sunday, so I have been left to my own vices for wine and dinner. I have discovered the wine lasts a lot longer when Mike is not here. I opened a bottle of Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel last night (Tuesday) for #TheWiningHour chat. I had a glass in order to participate in the chat but that was it. I sat down tonight (Wednesday) with some leftover macaroni and cheese and the Zinfandel. It was another wonderful pairing and again on Thursday.

Mike and I discovered Ravenswood when we first started traveling to Napa/Sonoma. I am not really sure how we came upon them, since it was so long ago, but I do remember the tasting as if it were yesterday. We walked in and we were the only people there. The gentleman behind the counter said he needed to go into the barrel room and would we like to join him.  [well, duh! of course] So we followed. As we walked, he told the story of Ravenswood and about their motto of “No Wimpy Wines.” Zinfandel is one of our favorite varietals, and Ravenswood has always done it well.  Ravenswood began in 1976, when along with Reed Foster as a partner, Joel brought in four tons of Zinfandel grapes.

Joel Peterson was a clinical microbiologist and was pursuing an advanced degree in cancer immunology when he began his passion with wine. He had been introduced to wine a long time prior since his father held twice-weekly tastings (today’s San Francisco Vintners Club) in their home. From their website, Joel is described as: 

A rakish raconteur (and provocateur) whose erudition and down-to-earth enthusiasm make him an articulate spokesman for the winery (and sometime-heckler of the wine industry), Joel is a stylistic trendsetter who helped make Zinfandel the runaway phenomenon it is today.

Mike came home from Europe this afternoon (Saturday) and declared a few things:

1- He was extremely tired.

2- He wanted pizza for dinner

3- He wanted wine since he hadn’t had any the entire week.

That was easily solved. One phone call and one look into the cellar.

We chose to open a Tobin James Ballistic Zinfandel from Paso Robles. I love Tobin James’ story.  A winery that he was working at as an assistant wine maker, had 6 tons of fruit they could not process. He asked, they gave. One and a half years later, the 1985 Blue Moon Zinfandel had claimed several Gold medals. He continued to make wines out of another facility, but finally in 1993, he decided to bite the bullet and built his own winery. Since the site was an old stagecoach stop, it makes complete sense that as you walk through the door, you feel like you have stepped into an old western movie. 

Week 2

In case you didn’t know, the wine industry is not the easiest of businesses to break into. Add to that the fact that being a boutique winery and living 3,000 miles away from Paso Robles, means that we do not have a tasting room makes it that much more difficult to get recognized by the public. We rely on social media, and word of mouth. Of course, we hope that people taste our wine and enjoy it, but we also wish people go to Delectable, Vivinio, Cellar Tracker or the app of choice and write tasting notes to help share our name. We try very hard to get our name out there, but there is only so much I can do on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, so what happened to us this week, is so exciting! 

This past week is one that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Actually, this past month will be ingrained in our brains forever. It started with a Silver Medal win in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. [ok, that technically was over 30 days ago, but it started this wonderful ride] We then flew out to Paso Robles and spent time pouring our Cabernet Franc for some restaurants.  We are overjoyed to announce that our Cabernet Franc is now available by the glass at Foremost Wine Company in San Luis Obipso. We also will be featured in the June shipment of PasosBestWines.com Club. 

As if that’s not enough to be ecstatic about, on Sunday night, we received an email from Wine Enthusiast informing us that our Cabernet Franc received a score of 91! We will be in the June edition, and if you have seen my Happy Dance on our YouTube Channel, I did the biggest, best and longest dance ever! Finally, for the trifecta, yesterday we received word that we received another Silver Medal! This time in the Monterey International Wine Competition.  We have poured our heart and soul into pursuing our passion and words can’t describe how incredible we feel to be receiving these awards and scores. 

 

When it came to choosing a wine for this #WineWednesday, we knew it had to be #bubbles!  We had to celebrate big time and it had to be with Sparkling.  We chose a Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blanc. This wine made from 100% Chardonnay spent two and a half years on the yeast and was aged for two years. Gloria Ferrer was the first sparkling wine house in Sonoma Carneros, and was the first to plant Champagne clones and the first to plant in Carneros. They currently have 335 acres under vine, and the estate vineyards produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in addition to the Sparkling wines.

Hope you have had some great wines and times these past two weeks. Remember, always Pursue Your Passion. We would love for you to leave a comment telling us what your favorite recent wine was.

~Sláinte