The Vineyard's "Big Taste" Wine Tasting Event

This weekend I headed to North Andover with my partner in crime, Lisa Shepard. The Vineyard had advertised a FREE wine tasting on
localwineevents.com I subscribe to this website and every so often, a free or inexpensive tasting comes up. If you are not a subscriber or have not visited the website at this time...Please do. I highly recommend it. 

This was the perfect start to a Saturday night and best of all it was free. The distributors were extremely nice and knowledgeable of their products. We learned quite a bit of information.



There were a total of six tables set up and each table averaged about eight bottles of white and red wines and were anywhere in price from 7.99 - 39.99 with the average price around the $14 - $22 mark. The following were our favs of the night: 


Ghost Pines Zinfandel - 18.99
Tasting Notes: Fruity or Jammy. Blackberry Aromas and Flavors

Dievole "La Vendemmia" Chianti Classico - 22.99
Tasting Notes: Normally I would not pick a Chianti unless I was planning on eating a big meal with it. However, this one had a real nice smoothness to it. 

Fruity with Spicy Highlights - This wine can be enjoyed from Pizza to Pasta to Grilled Steaks. FYI: If you are buying a Chianti, make sure it says "Classico" after it. The ones Sans-Classico are typically not as delicious! (Thanks Lisa!)

Guicharde "Cuvee Genest" - 16.99
Tasting Notes: Grenache / Syrah Blend. Dark Berry flavors ie Cherry / Blackberry with a bit of Spice. This is a great wine for a special occasion but at an everyday price. FYI: If you are shopping for a wine and are torn on what to get, this distributor told us to always always always for the one that says "Cote du Rhone". You will never be disappointed!

They saved the best for last!The final table was by far the tastiest and most entertaining. The distributor even had these cool little signs for us to read.

Llicorella Priorat 2005 - 19.99
Tasting Notes: Raspberry, Licorice, Herb Flavors - Very Crisp. Mi Piace!

White wines were not the stars of the show for this tasting, however out last table did have two whites worth mentioning:

Santero Asti Spumante

LaPorte "Le Petit Duc" Savignon Blanc


Both appear to run a little cheaper online - However as the distributor put it - "For 12.99, nobody gets hurt!"

Epic FAIL!

Ok....So the Wine Stoppers I mentioned in my last post did not work as expected. I will stick to keeping the bottle upright in the fridge for my whites. BOOOO.

The Cape, Cabernet, and Chocolate Wine

My friend Ann and her fam invited me to their Cape house in Eastham, MA last week. Because it was not beach weather appropriate, we did what any other girl would do at this point - We went shopping. We stumbled upon Main Street Wine & Gourmet that offers FREE Daily Tastings. We sampled 3 white and 3 red. Both of us fell in love with the Cabernet blend and purchased a bottle for the wine rack. Retail says it's $15 on the website: http://www.clayhousewines.com/our-wines/adobe.php?wine=3


We paid a little less than this. So if you see it for under $15 - Grab it! It's worth it.

In addition, we scored these awesome wine stoppers. I have not seen ones like them yet. They are flat so you fit them standing up in your fridge. In addition, they are non-drip, so you can lay them back on your wine rack and not worry about spillage.

I am also always on the lookup for corky (no pun intended) accessories. Check out these gift tags and this bag - HAHA!

The bag may be too good to give up - I'm thinking of working my magic by throwing it in a black frame and finding a spot for it in my kitchen. It's a good convo starter.

After about 3 more hours of shopping and a bite to eat at Land Ho! we went back to the house for a movie and dessert - Chocolate Wine. My awesome co worker Emily brought this to my house warming party the week prior and I was saving it for good company. Chocolate Wine: It instantly resembled a really sweet and potent White Russian.  CAUTION: Sip Slowly. This is definitely a one glass drink. I would recommend breaking this out with a group if you do. You have to keep it cold and something about the milky texture and keeping it for more than a week after opening it kinda skeeves me out.


If you are interested, here is is: chocovine.com


Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed my first post. More to come. Stay tuned and spread the word!