Anyway, we signed up for this free event, which was a night of tasting wines made by winemaker, Jean-Pascal Lacaze. JP is a chief winemaker based out of Chile. He is best known for his award-winning Domus Aurea Cabernet Sauvignon.
During our tasting we were treated to 4 wines, 1 white and 3 reds, along with some crackers and cheese. I never got around to taking a picture of all the glasses full. Apparently I'm a bit of a fast drinker. ;)
Our first wine, Penalolen Sauvignon Blanc, was just what a Sauvignon Blanc should be. It has a crisp nose and taste. Very grassy, lemony and a nice touch of grapefruit. It went down smoothly and we both raised our glasses pretty quickly when asked if anyone wanted a "touch" more. At $14.99/bottle, this was a great deal for a really nice wine. Can you guess which one we went home with?!
Our second wine was the Penalolen Cabernet Sauvignon. It had a great smell. Very dark chocolate covered cherries. However, the taste was a bit to alcohol tasting for me. As it sat out it definitely tasted better. This doesn't work so great for me because I'm more of a open and drink kind of gal.
The third wine was the Pargua II, which was a nice blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, and Cab Franc. Throw in some Syrah and Merlot for good measure too. JP launched into his spiel how this wine was like drawing a woman. The Cab Sauv was the body, the Carmenere made up the booty, and the texture of the woman came from the Cab Franc. Interesting way of looking at wine, huh?
The last wine was a wine from the vineyard that JP is currently the Chief Winemaker at, Domus Aurea. It was a Cab Sauv that was rich and deep in color. Almost like blood. At $55.99/bottle I was expecting a bit more, but I enjoyed it because of the enthusiasm that JP had for it. Now if he could just come to my house to show his excitement for all my Two Buck Chuck!
During our class there was some science talk which really perked The Scientist's ears up. So much so that he started to describe something sciency to me by drawing this photo. I was tasting. He was drawing.
JP was really passionate about his wine and despite our language barrier, really conveyed how he thought wine should be experienced quite well. Two thumbs up! Actually, four since The Scientist was there!
Despite the crackers and cheese, we were still a little hungry so we decided to stick with our super fancy theme of "cheap" and get a few slices from Upper Crust and polish off some Two Buck Chuck.Can you guess which slice is mine?!
Not to shabby for a school night, huh? G'Night Ya'll!
