A great tasting took place at the Grillon's on January 18th. Bill
Eisberg presented a program of "Big Reds To Sip By The Fire"
and was it timely and needed! Freezing rain outside with fireplaces
ablaze and red wine inside. The wines presented with their rankings
and prices were:
1ST Place - Ridge Sonoma Three Valleys 2001 USA, 50% Zinfandel,
15% Petite Syrah, 15% Carignane, 11 % Mataro (Mourvedre), 9%
Grenache, 14.4 alcohol- $19.95 (15 votes)
2nd Place - Finca Sobreno Especial1999 Spain, 100% Tinta de Toro
(Tempranillo), 14% alcohol- $29.99 (7 votes)
3rd Place - Warwick Three Cape Ladies 2000 South Africa,
40%Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 20% Pinotage, 14% alcohol- $21.99
(6 votes)
4th Place - Chateau D' Aydie Mairan 1998 France, 40-60% Tannat,
Plus Fer, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Franc, 10% alcohol- $16.99 (2 votes)
5th Place - Crios De Susana Balbo 2002 Argentina, 50% Syrah, 50%
Bonarda, 13% alcohol $14.99 (1 vote)
6th Place - Morando Borolo 1999 Italy, 100% Nebbiolo,13 % alcohol
(0 votes).
Our TASTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH will go to the deep south - South
America that is. Carl Brandhorst was fortunate enough to accompany an
importer (who may be able to join us as well). Carl managed to bring
back a number of wines he feels representative of the area. Since
there is only one bottle of each wine the tasting will be limited to
the first 25 who call in to our house hosts, who are the Kozaks. This
is an Educational Tasting. Pat Valas is donating the wines and all
proceeds will benefit the AWSEF Al Kacsur Memorial Scholarship.
Suggested donation is $25 per person with checks made payable to AWSEF.
In the January 7th Sunpaper Michael Dresser wrote of the challenge of
"boxed wines". He reviewed two Australian wines from an
outfit known as "Black Box Wines." Beringer and Mondavi are
considering boxed wines. Dresser's prediction - "Bet on the
box". A growing acceptance of screw tops was also predicted. It
seems that Jack is on the right track.
