Category Archives: Santa Clara

Santa Clara County Region Rosé Throw Down

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Wine Throw DownRosé’s here US have had a very bad reputation. While respected and popular in other parts of the world, most oenophiles here have thought of this varietal as the sticky sweet cough syrup that teenybopper would drink, until recently. Rosé has had a surge in popularity in the last several years and while still not on my favorite list it is one of Brax’s. What I do find interesting about Rosé is it has a wide variety in interpretation and thus it has essentially become the grab bag, or “box-of-chocolate” for each winery, you never know what you are going to get. Some lean towards the sweet side, some are light and crisp, some a little bitter, and some can be big and bold, yet they all look alike. So with all of this in mind Brax decided that we should hold the first Santa Clara County Rosé Throw Down and try to determine who makes the best Rosé in the SCC region. On October 20th, 2013 we are going to invite some wine enthusiast and neophytes as well as a couple of our local sommeliers and try to crown the SCC Rosé King (or queen). Interested in joining us? We may have a few tickets available for this event, just email, tweet or respond on facebook and we will let you know.

Morgan Hill Brew Crawl

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Morgan Hill downtown association

Morgan Hill downtown association

When I’m not drinking wine, I like to fill my glass with a good beer or tequila.  Saturday September 14th was the Morgan Hill brew  crawl.  There were 22 breweries pouring for this sold out event.  I met up with some of my beer enthusiast friends and spent a beautiful day beer tasting.  If you are a fan of craft beers, IPA’s, pale ales and double bocks, I highly recommend this event.

 

 

Personally I am a fan of largers, pilsners and ales.  My favorites were Spaten, Stella Artois, Red Tail and Mendocino Brewing Company.  Unfortunately we were not able to get to all 22 before time ran out.  We took our time and enjoyed the event.

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If you are not familiar with Morgan Hill, I invite you to check out  The Taste of Morgan Hill September 28th and 29th.

 

brew festival

Letdown from the Ridge

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Letdown: verb; to fall short in satisfying the expectation or hope of.disappointed1

With much anticipation the FTF finally carved out an afternoon to visit Ridge Winery in Cupertino. Why we have waited this long to visit one of the most famous wineries in this area is beyond explanation. Ridge consistently gets great reviews and their flagship wine, Monte Bello, gets recognition around the world. In fact it was recently chosen to be served at a private dinner for President Obama and a national dignitary. I think this is what finally pushed us to take the challenging drive up to Ridge to visit their renown tasting room. Unfortunately what we experienced was a letdown (see above). I do not know if my taste buds are just not refined enough, or if my tongue got up on the wrong side of the bed, but the big WOW that we were expecting was not there. I am in no way saying the wine was bad. It was good, just not what we were expecting. We only tasted the reds, so my comments are intended only for them. What you will not get at Ridge is big, no big fruit in the zin, no big tannins in the cabs, and I am not saying that is bad. The wines are all soft and complex with multiple different flavors from front to finish but they all tasted somewhat similar. Maybe I had set myself up, but this is not what I was expecting. That said, now that I do know what to expect, I am more than willing to give it another go. Who knows, some things are better on the second tasting. Tune in next time……….

Second Chances

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Three years ago I participated in my first Santa Clara Valley Wine Passport Weekend.  We visited a few wineries, one being Sarah’s Vineyard.  The young ladies pouring that day must have been tired of the numerous participants trampling through their tasting room staying only long enough to finish their tasting.  When my little group approached the counter, we were greeted with snarls and exasperation.  Not a good way to start off.  I admit we arrived 30 minutes before closing.  They were only pouring three wines so I believed we had plenty of time for the tasting.  The crowd was thinning out and only my group remained at the counter.  We waited.  We waited patiently.  We were finally approached by a young lady that requested to see our passports.  She stamped them and poured our first tasting.  I”m not sure if it was my first impression of the tasting room or the wine but I was not a fan of wine.  I have not been back since.  Fast forward to the present.

A friend invited me to go to Solis with her to pick up her club shipment.  I’m not one to pass up an opportunity to taste Solis wines.  While standing at the tasting counter, another wine enthusiast told us he had just come from Sarah’s Vineyard and he really liked their wines.  I was surprised to hear that.  I just assumed everyone had the same experience I did.  After listening to him talk about their Rhone blends I was intrigued.   So off we went. But not without apprehension.

I opened the door to the tasting room and the first thing I heard was, “Hi guys, come on in.”  We followed the voice and that was when we met Megan.  A big smile and as sweet as can be.  She introduced the wines to us and asked us where we wanted to start.  Megan is a Sommelier and very knowledgable about their wines and wines in general.  I really enjoyed their wines and we had some great conversation with Megan.  So here is to second chances.  I am now a Sarah’s Vineyard wine club member.

 Cheers…