So today, I got to go to the owner of Craggy Range Vineyards and do wine pairing for his birthday dinner for him and friends.

That was pretty cool of him to ask me to come so i Can practice for my pending sommelier certification.

He has an awesome house, a very inviting pool and a crazy temperature controlled wine cellar. I want the pool, the wine cellar, the subzero freezer and the Wolf range.

The guests were great and very cooperative and the wine was delicious as usual. 

I tasted each of the whites for good measure but I liked the noble Riesling Fletcher family 2008 the best. Perhaps it’s because i didn’t have anything to eat for dinner and was only given dessert by the kitchen, which I matched with the Noble Riesling!

OH YES!

Till next time! 

I officially had the WORST WINE EVER. 

I had at work for educational purposes. 

I already knew it was going to be bad because:

a) it hasn’t moved from inventory for 2 years (I didn’t purchase it)

b) I have a gut instinct about these things

c) commercial wine

I tried it anyway. I gurgled it around. Swallowed it. Tried really hard to be objective. Took another sip. This time I spat it out.

It was a Beaujolais-Villages. 

It tasted flat and uninteresting and lacked personality, structure, texture and flavor. It tasted like dirty running water. REALLY. 

ICK! 

Won’t even write here what it is.

A supplier gave this to me as a sample for our Wine of The Month program. 

Originally, he gave just the Tempranillo bottle but I didn’t really like it so I asked for something on the heavier side since our customers prefer the weighty reds. 

The Altozano Tempranillo is an easy drinking wine, which is why I took it home to drink leisurely. I wouldn’t really pair it with food though it’s doable. It has more structure than the Tempranillo base but not very tannic if you’re not a person who like tannins. Beginner drinkers would like this bottle. 

The white version which is Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc would be great with food though. 

I recommended this wine to a client over the week but he didn’t really like it.

He sent it back although some of his friends still drank it. He bought Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon instead. 

I tried the Primitivo to see if it was corked but it wasn’t. It just needed to breathe although I think the client is big on the big, bad, tannic Cab Sauv which that Primitivo was not. 

Given the chance, I think he would have been pleased by it.

Wine is very subjective though so to each his own. 

Today I recommended an Italian wine to a Spanish customer. 

I really had to sell the wine because he told me as a Spaniard, he was a non-believer of Italian wines. 

I gave him an awesome bottle of Cannonau which Chef and I tried and loved.

It was a Contini Tonaghe Cannonau di Sardegna. 

I offered him a Grupo Alvaro de Palacios Camins del Priorat as an alternative but he said he’ll take my advice since Chef and I both tried it and I recommended it.

He liked it obviously. 

YEY!