Neil and I were invited to Jess and Cory’s for a game of ZinZig over the weekend. Just the idea of a board game that involved wine knowledge really peaked my interest. There were a total of 6 of us playing and each couple had to bring a bottle of red wine.
This week I attended a wine tasting called “The Strange” at William Cross Wine Merchants. (http://wmcross.com) I have passed this wine shop many times while riding the bus to work and decided it was time to check out one of their Wednesday night tasting flights. The space was divided into a wine retail store in the front and a tasting bar in the back. There was quite a sense of community there, with many people who were greeted by name. The room was comfortable with maps on the wall and some people even brought their dinner in. I was pretty curious to see what this “Strange” wine tasting would entail.
When we purchased this wine, I tasted watermelon jolly ranchers so I was excited to try it again. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/78294642143/gianelli-vineyards-over-the-weekend-we-made-a) I researched Nebbiolo online and the pairings suggested were earthy mushroom flavors so we chose a truffle cheese. Lets see how they work together.
Our next stop was about 15 minutes down the road at Les Chenes Estate Vineyards. We had a really nice time here, the last time we visited Livermore and remembered the food and wine pairings. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/48889975506/on-location-in-livermore-ca-sunday-4-21-we)
We also thought their focus on Rhone varietals would be nice for KerryAnn to experience since the wines are so aromatic.
It’s been over a year since we’ve visited Livermore, CA for some wine tasting so we figured it would be a great place to bring my friend KerryAnn while she was in town. We chose three places initially but once we started tasting and had some lunch, there was only time to visit 2 of them. We went to one of the bigger brands out there and another place that we visited during our last trip out there.
We paired an Italian wine and French cheese this week, guess we’re ready to go back to Europe! We purchased the wine at Gianelli Vineyards during our trip to Yosemite back in February. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/78294642143/gianelli-vineyards-over-the-weekend-we-made-a) Since many Barbera wines have a creaminess to them, we chose the Comte to pair with it.