Red, Red, Wine.....

As a response to my wine-ignorance I decided to start a wine-tasting group. I don't expect to ever become highly knowledgeable or reach an "expert" level, but I am hoping to discover if I prefer red or white..... sweet or dry..... THAT could be a good starting place. I'd also like to be able to successfully match various wines to their proper color and sweet/dry status. (what a goal, eh?) Having next to no experience in the matter aside from boxed white zinfandel at friend's house or sampling what the relatives bring to our Christmas day event, I am starting from scratch.

I hosted our first gathering, which meant I provided food (meat, cheese, crackers, artichoke dip, grapes etc.) and I provided some music which was a side feature.... Seven friends showed up and we had a grand time. We discussed some name options for our group. Pam had some great ideas and we settled on Kindred Spirits, though we were leaning toward Corks and Cleavage (because we are just that kind of group!) We sampled a cabernet sauvignon, a shiraz cabernet blend, a pinot grigio, a local wine... honey apple wine made in Casselton, and a moscato di pantellario that Matt brought back from Rome. I think my favorite might be the first wine we tried, the cabernet sauvignon, and that truly surprised me because it was pretty dry in comparison with the others. However I felt it was the most flavorful. With the exception being, the Tanit (the moscato) which was like drinking liquid raisins... that one had a lot of flavor! Five bottles of wine was the perfect amount and everyone got to taste something and no one drank too much. In short, it was a lovely Thursday night. We'll meet again in early January and decide then if we want to do this monthly or bi-monthly. We tried to decide if we wanted to limit our choices to either red wines or white wines or specific kinds.... but for the next meeting we just decided to pick a region.... our pick? Australia. If you have any suggestions on a good wine from an Australian region, feel free to comment!

Check out the new blog that will detail my adventures in wine tasting!