Results of a Wine Tasting Fund Raiser

[wondersofwine]

I did a combined birthday bash (my 60th) and wine tasting with appetizers and dessert as a fundraiser for my church. We sampled twelve wines (1-1.5 oz. pours). First flight of Sauvignon Blanc: 2003 St. Supery, 2000 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Le Chene, 2002 Charles Wiffen, Marlborough, New Zealand. Food: mini phyllo cups filled with chopped spinach, garden vegetable cream cheese mix;
steamed new asparagus served cold with tarragon vinegar; party-size sourdough bread with gooseberry jam. The inexpensive New Zealand S.B. ($12.99) was voted favorite of the flight by about 2 to 1. I preferred the Sancerre although I thought all three were pretty tasty.
Next two rose' wines from France--different regions and grape varietals--2002 Chinon Rose'from Cabernet Franc grape, E.A.R.L. Raffault, 2003 Marsannay Rose' from Bruno Clair (Burgundy, Pinot Noir grape). The Marsannay had a slight edge in the voting.
The rose' wines and Pinot Noirs were accompanied by ham, and broiled salmon with fresh dill and a lemon juice/olive oil sauce, and gouda and smoked cheddar cheeses in cubes.
Then we had a flight of Pinot Noir from California, Oregon and Burgundy:
2002 Saintsbury Garnet Pinot Noir from California, 2002 Torii Mor from Oregon, and a
2001 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru "Les Millandes" from Arlaud Pere et Fils. The Saintsbury Garnet got the votes as favorite. I liked the Torii Mor best for drinking now but feel the Burgundy wine will be the best in a few years. I thought it had the most attractive nose now.
Then a 2002 Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel and a 2002 Wynns Estate Coonawarra Shiraz. I was going to do a beef stir fry and moussaka with ground lamb to go with these red wines but decided we had enough food without them and that the cheddar cheese would be a good accompaniment. We didn't really vote on these two as they were different varietals. I liked both. The Wynns Shiraz has had a good rating from WS.
For dessert wines we had a 2002 Alfred Merkelbach Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Auslese and a 2002 Essencia from Quady (Orange Blossom Muscat). The favorite was the Riesling which was 8% alcohol to the 15% alcohol of the Essencia. We had pound cake (from a mix) and orange spice cookies for dessert. We had seventeen paid reservations and fifteen in attendance. One couple didn't show up. All were members of our church except for one Scottish lady who teaches English as a second language at Fayetteville Tech Community College with two of the church members and a woman whose daughter I met at a wine dinner in Raleigh. The Scottish lady said they had wine with dinner growing up in Scotland. The other lady had belonged to a wine club in Illinois and would like to get one going in Fayetteville if we could find enough interested people. It was a fun evening and a nice way to celebrate my 60th (one day late) and raised over $200 for the church.