My new found LOVE!

Wine, vino, nectar from the gods... whatever your favorite term is I LOVE it! When I set the goal to tour 3 wineries it wasn't because I loved wine, I liked it and thought it sounded like something fun do do that I had never done. Touring wineries is one of my new favorite activities.

Let me explain why. The hubby and I drove down to Temecula for the Balloon and Wine festival. We assumed the wine would be the highlight of the festival, however we were sorely disappointed. After you paid an exorbitant "entrance" fee you have to pay extra to sample a small selection of wine. Needless to say we were in inland southern-cali and hot as heck at 10am. Standing around to pay more to "sample" wine was not going to happen.

On the drive into the festival we had driven past about a million wineries and decided to go try one of those since it was on my list anyway. We asked the tourism tent if they recommended a particular winery. After a long debate of not being able to pick just one they suggested Wilson Creek because they had a great Almond Champagne. That's right folks... Almond Champagne! And it was amazing!

Not only was it cheaper per taste but also air conditioned... and since we arrived at 10:30 (just 30 minutes after opening like true alcoholics) we got one on one service by a very sweet lady. She entertained all of our ridiculous winery touring virgin questions, poured us double the tastes we had paid for and took us back to the VIP tasting room! Yes folks we hit the gold mine on this winery. We stopped for lunch on site (mostly out of necessity) and headed back home.

Last weekend we "toured" San Antonio Winery. Not such a good experience. It was basically a liquor store where you could taste 3 wines for free. Free or not, it was not very good! Basically a Folgers experience after being served freshly roasted and expertly poured espresso in the heart of Italy. For me, winery touring is as much about the overall experience as it is the quality of the wine.

The last winery is not planned yet and am up for suggestions anywhere in the So-Cal area.

- K

List rewind: Learn more about wine

K and I started our blog a little late in the game and by the time it launched, I'd already crossed off a couple of my items. Because I'm proud of those accomplishments, and you're probably wondering what I did to cross them off, I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

I'm starting to think that between my posts about cocktails, my love of gin and the copious amounts of champagne I drink all of you are minutes away from staging an intervention. To that I say "Cheers! I love drinking too much to give it up." Case in point is #11: learn more about wine. This was actually the very first goal I crossed off. And it's totally because it was one of my favorites on my list.
 
Like champagne, gin and pretty much all alcohol including moonshine, I love me some wine. It took me a while to get into it, but today it's rare to find one that I don't like. However, despite that love affair I know virtually nothing about it. Varietals? Legs? Tannins? What the hell are we talking about? I answered most of those questions and then some on a May 2009 trip to Napa with the hubby. We spent three glorious days touring vineyards, discovering that we do in fact like Merlot and getting pretty drunk.
 
But it was during all those tours that I learned a lot about grapes, the aging process, the difference between bottling wine and bubbly, and how to really use my palate to discover small nuances between blends and when a wine needs to open up and breathe. One of my favorite experiences was doing a barrel tasting at Pine Ridge. Tasting a young, aging wine before it's maturity was incredible. The trip was also a success because we managed to bring back 12 undamaged bottles of wonderful, amazing wine through airport security. This was by far the most enjoyable goal I've crossed off and although I'm not quite a sommelier ... yet ... am glad that this goal will continue to be a passion of mine until my liver gives out.
 

- B

 
Get 30 Before 30 Updates by Email