So Doc and I ventured out in Soquel hills for dinner on the farm. Delicious! My favorite for the evening was a tomato bisque soup with a Brie panini. So tasty. My other favorite was the dessert…….roasted stone fruit with a honey glazed vanilla ice cream. All of the food was locally sourced and made from scratch. Wine was from local wineries. Not the best wine but decent. Odanata and Armedia.
Defiantly a must try for a dinner night out. Beautiful setting on the farm with amazing food!
Fabulous! Cute little shop with a drive-up coffee bar. Actually the best coffee I’ve had in a while. Espresso was fresh and tasty. I got a sugar-free hazelnut latte. The products they use are top quality so no nasty chemically tasting sugar-free syrup. This coffee was seriously heavenly. It is a little pricy but its worth every penny! A must try.
Here we go again…..it’s day three and we are about to begin another live rapid blogging session. It was fun yesterday but I’m looking forward to the reds today! Just a reminder we are sitting at a round table with a number. Each wine maker comes to us gives a small pour and they have 5 minutes with us and us with them to blog about what we think.
First up : Poplar Grove 09 Cab
Light in color, first smells of when the rain first hits the cement…..you know the smell after a first rain! I happen to love that smell. Mmm pretty good. Initially slightly sweet, long finish, smooth. Me like 🙂
Next:
Next: Monster vineyards 2011 Cabs. It’s a blend
Nice color, rich berry smells. Heavy tannins, gets lost at the end. I remember them from yesterday with their white. Wasn’t impressed then sadly not impressed now.
Next: Hestercreek 2009 “the judge” a blend. Smells delish! Clove like with a sweetness. Taste is soft with a clove like aftertaste. Very delicious, however it’s 45$ a bottle……..on second/third sip maybe worth it….not 100%on that though.
Next: 2009 Painted Rock Estate Red Icon (a blend) Initial smell of ice cream coffee…..yum. Lots of coffee taste and super good! We had a taste of merlot from this winery earlier today and were very impressed. Still impressed! Really like this winery!!!
Next: Cab Franc 2010 Tinhorn Creek
Smell is of minerals. Tannins with slight sweetness. Don’t really care for it. Next!
Next: Bartier Bros 2011 Syrah. I’m excited! First Syrah I’ve had or seen since being here. Beautiful color with a deep purple hue to it. Smells of dark fruit. Initial taste is sweet at first then an old vine zin taste to it…..not a good flavor for me. It’s gone before your done swallowing. Interesting but I wouldn’t buy it.
Next: Haywire Gamay Noir 2011
Nope. That’s what I have to say. It’s a person thing for me….it’s has old vine zin characteristics. Since I’m over it I can tell you a quick story. I got food poisoning one year and I was drinking an old vine zin that I happened to love at the time. All night I was puking purple with the old vine taste. So needless to say anything that has old vine zin characteristics I can not drink. Moving on.
Next: Jackson-Trigs 2010 Red Meritage
Heavy red would love a steak right now with it! Deep red color, capsaicin smell with a smooth taste. Having a hard time describing it but its good…..that’s all I need 🙂
Next: Osoyoos Larose 2008 Le Grand Vin
Light with a mineral and tar smell. Don’t care for the smell. You can taste tar with smokey flavors. It’s ok.
Next: NKMIP 2008 Qwam Qwmt Syrah.
Ahhh another Syrah. Meaty smelling. Dry, makes my mouth water. I don’t care for it. I can’t really explain the flavors….just don’t like it. Over it!
And that’s it for the rapid blogging! It was fun…..I have to say they all did a great job presenting. It’s super loud so they really have to shout and tell us about the wine. Love it!
Ok so we are at a table and we have 5 mins to taste and rotate winemakers but we have to blog on site at the same time we are tasting! Here we go……this is def a first.
Riesling 2011 Monster Vineyards: 100% Riesling. Not sweet at all. Initial smell is some petrol. Sour to me. Eh, not that great. Lets move on……nope she’s still talking, 5 minutes is longer than I thought.
And we switch! Next Cedar Creek 2012 Riesling. Very light in color almost water looking. Fermented in stainless steel. Almost slightly bubbly at first, not very sweet but tasty. Lots of apricot with acidity at the end.
Next……Quials’ Gate Chenin Blanc 2012. Hmmmm. Lots of mineral qualities, light and kinda sour. Not a fav.
Next up:
Bench1775 2012 Chill (white blend)
Smells nice with fruity flavors but the taste is no bueno. It’s again on the sour side….I’ve had a cracker in between so its not due to the other wines. One word: forgettable is best.
Next:
Terravista vineyards. Fandango 2012 blend of Verdelho and Albariño….I’m excited! First glance straw colored very light. Smell….like opening a bag of dried fruit smell. ( that kinda weird smell you get) ok, so it’s on the sour side, but tasty. I feel like it needs food I wouldn’t drink it alone. It’s ok.
5 rounds done 5 to go!
Next: ooooo first look they have a cup of popcorn to go with….. It’s a Chardonnay 2010 by Township 7. Finally some color with the wine. Smell slightly oaky/buttery. (I like the smell) mmmmm yum! Pretty good. Smooth with butter an acidic qualities. It goes well with the popcorn but better by itself. A must try 🙂
Next: Mt. Boucherie 2010 Chardonnay. Smell opposite from the other fresh crisp fruity smelling. Light and crisp but it reminds me of something….like a familiar old veggie that has stayed to long in the fridge. I can’t put my finger in the exact veggie. Thumbs down.
Next: Upper Bench 2012 Riesling. Smell awesome! Like your laying in a field on a warm summer day and you are surrounded by apricot trees…..and bug bumble bees 🙂 Then slightly disappointed with the taste. It does taste nice, but a little sour and maybe if it didn’t smell as good as it does it would taste better. It just smells so good but then you taste and it doesn’t hold it’s expectations that you build with the smell.
Next: La Petite Paille 2012 Sauvignon Blanc …. Very light in color more so than any others really looks like water. Smell has capsaicin smell of a Cab with a good taste but is kind of lost at the end…..weird…but good. This could be drunk by itself on a warm summer day. I like!
Next: last round!
Intrigue wines 2012 white blend. Smell delish. Crisp, cool with sour smells….but tasty with honeysuckle and a very slight sweetness. Very good. Could definitely drink it by itself on a warm summer day!
And that’s it folks! So all these wines all I had was five minutes each! It was super fun, loud and crazy in the big conference room! Imagine 200 plus people in a room blogging, face booking, tweeting etc.