Julie and I had a delicious little winetasting last week, perfect for my inner sweet tooth. Al Hernandez, editor of The Vine Times, came to our office to interview us for his podcast and we all explored delicious dessert wines using WineParty, our colorful winetasting kit. We tasted some Ports, Madeira, and more, courtesy of our friends at Montevina Winery, Broadbent Slections, and Folie a Deux. (As with many a fun wine party, Julie and Al didn’t know what they'd be tasting, as all the wines were disguised with WIneWrappers from our WineParty .
Before we get started, a little about Al Hernandez. He is one of the first journalists who featured WineSmarts way back in 2002. And I have to say, a good word from Al is worth a lot - loads of other journalists and stores got in touch with us after they saw his piece. So, thank you.
We began our tasting with Montevina Winery's Wild Bunch white. The label has an image of a heart tattoo any motorcyclist would be proud of, and the wine is refreshing, with a beautiful floral-blossomy aroma and just slightly sweet but acidic enough to keep you interested. And it’s only $10/bottle!
Then, we moved on to 5 different wines, and ranging from the U.S. to Portugal, and from $10 to more than $70.
While Al asled us questions on air with his quite-impressive radio voice, all three of us poured wines for one another. This is definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of our job.
We started with a disguised red wine that Al thought had some characteristics of a Syrah. It was enjoyable, soft and subtly spicy without being too juicy or sweet. We took off the WineWrapper and revealed Menage à Trois Red 2003, a mix of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet, produced by Folie a Deux. It retails for $10.
Then we moved to the dessert wines, accompanied by chocolate. Some people dislike chocolate with their sweet wines, preferring a blue cheese or short bread. But I like chocolate with everything. Adam Smith, owner of Fog City News helped me select chocolates for the tasting, including Michel Cluizel from France, Amadei from Italy, and and others, from high percentage cocoa dark chocolates to milk chocolate. YUM. Adam has one of the most eclectic and every-expanding chocolate selections I have ever seen.
The next four wines were:
1) Broadbent's Quinta do Crasto late bottle vintage 1999 (Douro Valley, Portugal -- $14/half-bottle). Crasto has been making wines since the 1600's, and this wine has a wonderful woody, cooked, dark fruit aroma, and a long-lasting taste that really was an elegant dessert itself.
2) Alongside this Porto we tasted an American Port: Montevina's Zinfandel Port (Amador County, CA, $18/bottle), a rich wine with sweet-raisin-y and cocoa flavors.
We asked Al which one came from California, and he got it right, and pinpointed that the other was a late bottle vintage Porto.
3) Ferreira 20 year tawny (Douro Valley, Portugal; $70/bottle). Founded by a family of grape growers in the 1700's, Ferreira created a Porto that was a hit with Al and Julie, with its crème brulee flavors and velvety taste.
4) Broadbent 10 year Malmsey Madeira (madeira, Portugal, $44/bottle). Made for Broadbent by Justinos of Madeira. The wine is a blend of different vintages, and is 100% Malmsey (Malvasia) grape. This elegant wine, while sweet,also has a lot of acidity so it's perfect for people who don't like sugary things.
What is Port? - a red (and sometimes white) wine that has had brandy added to it (a fortified wine). Port gets its name from the city of Oporto in Portugal. Europeans use the word Port (or Porto) to describe wines that only come from the Douro region in northern Portugal. Like Champagne, purist argue that if it's not from Porto, it's not really a port. So while you may see lots of "ports" coming out of California, they should in fact be referred to as port-style wine. |
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