We had our inaugural tasting on Friday night. It was an electrifying mix of 15 people; 1 representing the Accessible Tribe, 2 in the Balanced Tribe, 10 in the Developed Tribe and 2 in the Complex Tribe. We did a blind tasting of old and new world wines, all under $20. 
We sampled a 2010 Les Charmes Macon-Lugny Chardonnay, 2009 Edna Valley Chardonnay, 2011 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2010 Pomelo Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir and 2010 La Crema Pinto Noir. (Thanks to Jeff at Seattle’s Esquin Wines for helping me with the selection.) While there was no single wine that rose to the top for all tribes, there were some definite favorites within each tribe, which means this concept works! See the Tasting Notes for the results.
I also offered up a delicious (if I do say so myself) dinner, which was super easy because I only served things I’d made ahead of time. The menu featured stuffed grape leaves, assorted veggies with hummus, green salad with herb vinaigrette, rice pilaf with mushrooms and shallots, baked salmon, baguettes, peach/blueberry cobbler and assorted cheeses and fruits. (See the recipe section for How-to’s on the vinaigrette, pilaf and salmon; see Costco for the hummus and grape leaves.) 
Here is what I learned from the experience:
- Six wines is too many. It got confusing to tease apart aromas and flavors for that many wines. Next time, I am going to stick with four.
- Finding the right aroma/tasting vocabulary was challenging. I got a couple of “tastes like wine” comments. Next time I’ll have cheat sheets for everyone with the wine aroma wheel and wine tasting descriptors.
- We did a round of tasting with and without food and it was radical to see how different the wines tasted when paired with food
- Final note to self: when it’s past midnight and you start pulling out the whiskey and making people dance that is your secret clue to shut it down 😉
Comments are closed.