The Wine Lover's Club held it's March meeting at Sociale on Tuesday the 16th. It began on a somber note as we bid a fond but sad farewell to one of our members who passed away rather unexpectedly. He loved French wine, so we toasted with a Bordeaux after a heartfelt tribute to him and what he meant to all of us.
As with all meetings, we handled the business end of things first, or in this case, second. We decided on a design to represent our chapter of the American Wine Society going forward, and chose a new e-mail address that reflects our name change. The minutes were read and the treasurer gave her report.
Now down to the real business of tasting wine! Tonight's presentation was on Spain, and in particular, Tempranillo. All wines tasted were 100% tempranillo, and in the $8 - $15 range:
Egruen Tempranillo Vino de la Tierra de Castilla - 2007 $7.99
Ercavio La Mancha Tinto Roble - 2007 $11.99
Venta Mazzaron - around $15
Volver Tempranillo La Mancha - around $13
Paso A Paso Tempranillo La Mancha- 2008 $9.99
I liked all but the first one. The Egruen seemed a little harsh compared to the rest. The Ercavio was much smoother and well balanced (my favorite). The Venta Mazzaron was much more fruit forward with an almost sweet taste. It was still a dry wine, but the fruit gave it sweetness. The last two were smooth, easy drinking, but less fruity. They all paired well with the food. As you'll see below, we had a lot of different type of food to pair with.
Here are the wines being opened for tonight's tasting.
Lots of good munchies to go with our wine.
One of our newest members prepared a fruit and dessert platter. Doesn't that look pretty?
Everyone pitches in to clean up.
Meetings are currently held at 7 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at Sociale, on Knollwood Street in Winston-Salem.