When? Saturday, February 15th @ 7pm ET
Theme: Date Night Wines - TWITs should bring a bottle of their favorite date wine! What date night wine would you bring to WOW a date or your significant other? I'm hoping for some funny anecdotes to go with your bottle, if you have a story to share.
Tasting Notes:
Welcome Wine: Mauro Sebaste Moscato d'Asti ~$18 @ Total Wine
sparkling wine, slightly sweet
1) 2015 River Road "Stephanie's Cuvee" Pinot Noir, Green Valley of Russian River Valley ~ $25-28 @ Total Wine
14.3 % alcohol
"Any pinot is a good date wine for me." this one was curated, Stephanie (may be) the wine producer's daughter.
bromantic, berries, rufanol forward on the nose (ok guys), spicy w a hint of roofie, eucalyptus, fermented grapes, chocolate notes, light, viscosity, solid pinot noir.
2) 2014 Michel-Schlumberger Merlot Dry Creek Valley ~$45 from winery (albeit they do really great sales on a mixed case twice a year, and you can get them for almost $12/bottle then)
14.7% alcohol
Abbie & Matt visited this winery/vineyard in Dry Creek, and had a fantastic time sipping wine, snacking on appetizers, sitting on their patio in the sunshine overlooking the property. Lovely place!
spicy, has heat on it, tart on back of tongue, cherry, cedar, academia adjacent, hint of brandy, makes my tongue taste like the Sahara Desert, needs some greasy food w it, lamb bolognese would be a good pairing.
3) 2018 "The Dreaming Tree" Pinot Noir ~ $12 @ Kroger or Publix
13.5% alcohol
"I was dreaming of a date"
soft pinot, tart cherry, easy drinking, cocoa powder, milk chocolate
4) 2017 Shroud Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ~ $18 retail (but she got it on a subscription trial offer via National Geographic so it probably evens out to $5/bottle)
13.2% alcohol
(fictional story), met a guy at the National Geographic Museum (does this even exist? ha ha), they had epic sex, and then drank this amazing wine. (cue "Bad Touch" music by the Bloodhound Gang). many jokes of "Night at the Museum" come to mind now.
eau de sewage, sweet broccoli, tart, dry, thin flabby finish, it already died, why did they dig it up? tastes like a museum next to a sewer, "subscriptiony"
5) 2016 SLO Down Wines "Sexual Chocolate" ~ $25 @ CostCo or $40 @ Whole Foods
14.5% alcohol
Syrah, Zinfandel Blend
"When you see a bottle with this name, you buy it.
And drink it on date night.
and then again and again
and give it to your friends."
smells like pizza, tastes like pizza, its almost sweet and chocolatey, chocolate berries, a berry blend, decent, too sweet for me
6) 2016 Orin Swift "Machete" Saint Helena ~ $55 @ Caps & Corks
15.7% alcohol
Petite Sirah, Syrah, Grenache,
First Date, look at the label, he died happy, whoever he was.
sharp, dangerous nose, very short bit of sweet on the finish, full bodied, inky purple, pepper notes, white pepper, a lil tart, machete mama, cassis, no bra, subtle minerality,
7) 2017 Francis Ford Coppola "Directors Cut" Cinema ~ $45 retail, but was on sale $25 @ Kroger
14.5% alcohol
Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Petite Sirah
"All the wine at Brandy & Louis' wedding was Coppola wine, but they have not tried this bottle yet. Their date nights usually involve red wine and chocolate, and so tonight they brought some Lindt 70% extra dark Lindor Truffles for us to pair with this one"
rich, smooth, velvety, pairs with chocolate very well, red hots, delicious!
8) 2017 Kenwood Zinfandel Jack London Vineyard Sonoma Mountain ~ $35 retail but was on sale for $15 @ CostCo.
15.6% alcohol
It has a Wolf on the label, reminds her of Shakira's She Wolf song
chewy, berries, clean nose
9) King Vineyards "7" Virginia ~ $30 from winery
dessert wine 17% alcohol
Merlot port
delicious, not too sweet. Pairs delightfully with the hazelnut chocolate ganache pie.
Bonus wine:
2017 Fortunati Fortivo Proprietary Red Bordeaux Blend Napa Valley ~ $46 from Winery
14.8% alcohol
fortivo means strong