Le Tour De Vin Review

A week ago I spent the evening with 200+ wines. Well I really didn't spend my evening with that many, but we did have that many choices. I'm used to wine tastings with 6-8 different wines. I felt overwhelmed. I had prepared myself looking at the list before hand so I could come up with a game plan. Since I had spent $100 for a ticket, I wanted to make sure and get my money's worth and taste the more expensive wines first. I concentrated on whites. It is much easier for me to find a white that I like. Reds are much trickier. Here are the wines that impressed me. I can't tell you more than the names because I didn't make any other notes. I don't even know how much anything costs.

Kendall Jackson Avant Chardonnay - I do remember that this is an unoaked chardonnay

Santa Christina Pinot Grigio

Masi Mesianco

David Arthur Meritaggio - ok the one red that I tried. The wine maker was there which made it interesting to talk to him about his wines.

Benessere Pinot Grigio

Amici Sauvignon Blanc

Joseph Phelps Eisrebe - this is a dessert wine but not too sweet

Eroica Riesling

Elk Cove Pinot Gris

Tattinger La Francaise - some bubbly to end the evening

I'm glad I went but I doubt I would go again. There was too many wines (yes there is such a thing) and the food was not enough for drinking. They ran out and being hungry isn't a good idea.

The Most Expensive Bottle of Wine EVER

Ok the most expensive bottle I've ever bought. I'm not crazy. But I sure felt like it the day I bought this bottle. I've been going to wine tastings for years and when I first started I didn't like red wine. I was very narrow minded in my wine drinking, like most people starting off. I was a pinot grigio girl. But I knew there was more out there. So tastings were the perfect opportunity to try things without investing in something that you didn't like. I would go to them (thank goodness tastings are free at the local liquor stores) and say I'm only going to try one red, so pick out the best one. I gradually got over that and now I do drink everything there and very rarely pour it out (only if it is pure vinegar tasting). But two years ago is when my taste for red wine was born. A small vineyard from California came out (the owner had ties to Norman) and brought four wines. Oh my goodness they were so wonderful. The white blend was delicious and reasonably priced. The first red was nice and about $20. Twice what I normally pay for a bottle of wine. And then we got to this gem pictured here. Forum Confidential Reserve. A CabSav blend. Light tannins. Tasty fruit. And it was the first time I had ever tasted everything that they said in the description. It was nirvana for a red wine. Problem was it was $65 for a bottle. OMG! I cannot believe I was liking that expensive bottle of wine. And that I was considering purchasing it. I went into the store to look. I got the white and the cheaper red. Already a stretch for me on my wine budget. And then I stared at this bottle. I called Dan and said I was contemplating buying it but it was $65! I wanted him to talk me off the ledge. But he said go ahead and get it if you liked it so much. So I did. I've never spent $100 at a liquor store so that was quite the charge.

But now that I have this bottle of wine, what do I do with it? I can't just open it up and have it with our normal dinners. It has to be something special. Dan doesn't drink wine and I'm afraid that it will go bad if I don't drink it quickly. I was discussing this dilemma with a friend and he suggested steak. Which is a good choice for a good red. But I still had the problem of not being able to finish the bottle in a decent amount of time. I kept thinking it had to be a special occassion. (This is the biggest mistake people make. Drink the wine and champagne for every day. It is made to be drinken.) So we finally worked out that he would bring the steak (his family has a farm so it would be fresh meat).

It only took two years to set a date for the steak dinner. Last night was the night. Time to open the bottle. I was praying that it hadn't gone bad. That I had stored it properly. That I hadn't built up the taste of the wine and be disappointed. That I didn't pick a bad one and be embarassed with my guest drinking it. I had a backup wine on hand just in case it was a disaster. So the tbone steaks arrived (massive thick cuts that looked great) and I opened the bottle. The cork was starting to dry out but came out in one piece. It even had a beautiful stain on the end so I stored it right. The color was deep and rich. It had good legs. It smelled great. And the taste...PERFECT!. Thank goodness. It only got better as it opened up in the glass. I even cooked the steaks to perfection. The evening was quite a success. We finished the bottle, had leftover steak (I couldn't even eat half of it it was so large) and had great conversation. It is always a pleasure to have someone to talk to about wine who is knowledgeable and has similar tastes.

The last of the wine