Specs Wine Tasting

Overall I wasn't AS impressed with this tasting as much as the Texas tasting last week. Specs went back to the regular format of 20 random wines and lots of food though, so that was good! There was only one bad wine there out of 20, which was the Villa Frattina Pinot Grigio. To me, pinot grigios are pretty hit or miss... they might smell like peppers or cat pee, and taste like a delicious fruity light wines or... cat pee. This one was the latter.

Fortunately there were some really great wines as well. One station had 2 tempranillos - one from 2002 and one from 2005 with a $8 difference between them. It was really cool to taste 2 side by side and see the difference and the older one turned out to be a lot better, although both were pretty good! I also really liked the Broadbent Vinho Verde, which was a little bit carbonated! Very light and bubbly, almost like a refreshing champagne but with fruit. Another table that stood out to me were Pulenta Malbec and Cabernet from Argentina! For the most part Im always impressed with Argentinean wines - they are fruity yet also have some substance and are more interesting that your average wine.

One of the best wines was the last one of the night - the Leaping Lizard Pinot Noir. We were told to watch out for the LL Chardonnay because it "smells like pondwater!" so were surprised that the wine it was paired with was so good! Pinot Noirs used to be some of my favorite wines, and I was surprised to be reminded how good they are. This one was very round and silky and tasted just like a RAISIN. It was like raisin juice in my cup - in a good way! Very complex and like nothing I had ever tasted before.

In the end, I didn't end up buying anything from the night because I actually was getting some wines from the Austin Wine Festival I attended this weekend. The Fall Creek Muscat Canelli and Messina Hof Late Harvest Riesling, which were the 2 sweetest wines there!