Good fun, good wine, successful experiment...

[cpurvis]

Had a great time with friends for our first at-home 'educational' tasting last night. Used Almaden 'Mountain Burgundy' (whatever that is) as the base wine & added a variety of individual flavors to it. The real wines opened were a sangiovese, an Italian 'geographica typica' blend from Vitiano, & a zinfandel. Served tapas matched to the wines. Opened the sangiovese, then the Vitiano, then the zin, each w/ approp. food.

To create aromas that are typical to sangiovese & zin, we added individ. spices & fruits to approx. 2 ounces of the base wine. Among the flavors: black pepper, oregano, thyme, vanilla, molasses, anise, cocoa, cinnamon, clove, blackberry jam, raspberry jam, raspberry, blueberry, tea, & damp earth.

Lesson learned: it takes very little of most spices to 'spike' an aroma in the wine (e.g. 3 drops of vanilla, 1 whole clove, teaspoon of jam, etc.)

In between the sangiovese & the zin, we set up several glasses for a 'test'. Interesting to note how some aromas were "so obvious" to some persons & not identifiable to others.

Personal educational moment: the aroma/flavor of tea in wine...I'd never singled that out before.

Overall, 3+ hours of great fun w/ friends & wine!

cp