I never thought I would get into wine tasting, but there it is. We tried seven wines last night and most were very tasty. The only guideline was that the wine needed to cost between $15-$20. I am looking for good wines to serve at the wedding and I think we found the red.
The winning wine is….
a red 2004 shiraz from Australia called Marquis Phillips. The bottle looks like this with a kangaroo label:
Run and buy a case! (I got it from Costco.)
Only one or two people at the party knew anything about wine, but there seemed to be a general consensus about favorite reds and whites. To be truthful, the first red was so good I would have been perfectly content to stick with it the rest of the evening, but that would have defeated the purpose of the evening. In order, starting from the best (my scores – out of 10):
The Reds
1. 2004 Marquis Phillips shiraz (10) – as good as I would want for $20
2. 2001 Silver Martin Vineyards zinfandel (9) – sweet, not too dry
3. 2003 Rosenblum Napa Valley (8) – even sweeter, a little acidic
4. 2003 Francis Coppola Black Label Claret (7.5)
The Whites
1. Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita (9) – tasty and light
2. 2003 Rodney Strong Cabernet (8)
3. Gewurztraminer (8) very sweet dessert wine
And Zac had a few fun wine drinking tools worth mentioning. First, he provided wine glass charms (I call them wine necklaces) to help eveybody keep track of his/her glass.
And he had a nifty tool that cut the metal band off the top of the wine bottle. It must have an official name, but I don’t know what that is. Seems like it would make a nice Christmas gift for a wine drinker. Here is a picture of it (upside-down so you can see the blades):
