TAPAS 2012 Grand Tasting Notebook
“Really, you’re tired of drinking wine?”
“All the new release parties and wine events…I’ve drank enough sauvignon blanc and zinfandel to drown a beluga whale.”
“Hold on there. I can understand you are tired of drinking the same varietals from the same region. Even I get tired of over-oaked Mondovino, but to swear off wine in general is plain ridiculous.”
This is a conversation you might hear regularly this time of year. Just like when Adam Richman starts to dry heave twelve minutes into an 8 pound burrito the human palate can only take so much of the same flavors before we start to crave a little variety. Thankfully Nature has spared us from what could have been Man vs. Wine.
Oh so many years ago a clever little invention known as cross-pollination tangoed its way into the Tree of Life. For eons it has worked to promote genetic diversity so that Mother Nature can hedge her bets against crop failures that might otherwise have disrupted the food chain. As a result grape vines Read more
TAPAS-Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society 2012 Preview
For the longest time grenache (referred to in Spain as garnache) was kind of a wine that I knew about, but never really sparked my interest. It wasn’t until 2004 when I took a road trip to Big Sur that on a whim I bought a bottle of 2003 Los Rocas Garnache. Bursting with wild blueberry and black berry the Los Rocas was the gateway wine that opened my palate to Spanish varietals in general.
In California locally grown Spanish varietals such as grenache, tempranillo and albarino are being championed by producers from Lodi to California’s Central Coast. The problem is that these wines are not widely available at restaurants and wine bars so the general public is only starting to catch on to the beauty of these wines.
So, if you are at all Spanish varietal curious and would like to try some amazing wines head down to Fort Mason in San Francisco and join us for the TAPAS Grand Tasting this Saturday.
Hasta Pronto,
El Wine Sherpa
