As we make our way through the third month of pandemic lockdown, my friends are all as bored and thirsty as I am. So, we had a virtual wine tasting using Zoom, the app that once was meaningless, but now is as essential as the fax machine circa 1997. I’d like to tell you that we figured this out in the name of research for you, dear readers, but we really were desperate for each other’s company. And we’re always ready, willing and able to drink wine.

With a little planning, a virtual wine tasting can provide the closest thing you’ll get these days to an actual dinner party. We drank the same wines, ate the same food and stared at the same little rectangles in our Zoom galleries for a few hours.

Check out these nifty traveling jars.

My friend Jen offered to whip up charcuterie and cheese boards, Morgan made desserts, and I supplied the wine.

This was how the drop off was staged. So appropriate!

We coordinated drop off and pick up at Jen’s house and even had a glass of wine together while social distancing in the front yard. Then we all headed back to our respective quarantine sites and got on our laptops. Such fun!

Reasonably Priced, Food-Friendly Wines

My job was to find reasonably priced, food-friendly wines that would pair nicely with meats, cheeses, crackers and whatnot. My first thought was “Pinot Noir!” because Pinot Noir is my go-to wine whenever I am puzzled by a pairing. My second was “Italian red!” because while eating loads of meat, cheese, crackers and whatnot in Italy, I always had a glass of Italian red nearby. Really I should say bottle, but why bother with such details?

So, with that in mind, I made the following selections:

Making the screen scene with Pinot Noir

I love the story of Erath wines. In the late 60’s, Dick Erath, one of the pioneers of the Oregon wine industry, recognized the similarities between the terroir of Burgundy and the Willamette Valley. He started his namesake winery in the early 1970s and helped pave the way for generations of winemakers.

When sampling the Erath, we detected scents of dark fruit, diesel and a little barnyard funk, with tastes of black cherry, baking spices and dirt. We didn’t care for it when drinking it on its own (too thin), but with our charcuterie the wine was nice as its acids cut through the fatty foods. I’ll be honest: while the  Developed and Complex tribes preferred this Pinot to the Sharecroppers, no tribe loved this wine.

Sharecropper’s, made by Owen Roe, is a pretty ruby-colored wine, but scents of charcoal, smoke and ash turned some of our tasters off (one noted that it singed her nose hairs). Luckily, it was smooth and easy drinking, with tastes of vanilla, blackberry custard and cherry. If you are in the Accessible or Balanced Tribes, give this a try. But folks in the Developed and Complex tribe will likely find this one too light on the palate and lacking oomph. Not sure what tribe you are in? Take this quick quiz to find your tribe and discover wines that others with your same palate preferences like.

On to Italy!

Both of our Italian wines were produced in the Tuscan region and both are 100 percent Sangiovese grapes, but one is called a Chianti Classico and the other is not. Why? Geography, baby!

The grapes in the Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico come from the heart of the acclaimed Chianti Classico region, located in the hills and valleys between Florence and Siena. This area is an official DOCG, or denomizaione di origine controllata e garantita, which means the wine has a guaranteed level of quality (note that nifty white DOCG label on the bottle). The Carpazo wine is made with Sangiovese grapes from three different parts of Tuscany. Its geographic boundaries are looser, hence no DOCG label and, as a result, a lower price point.

So bottom line, all Chiantis are comprised of Sangiovese grapes, but not all Sangios are Chiantis. Capiche? Good, back to the results.

A couple of Italian wines to remember

Fèlsina is a family run winery that has been in operation since the late 1960s. Its wines are consistent award winners, and this wine in particular was given 95 points by the acclaimed critic James Suckling. I was excited to try it, and I and my fellow Developed tribe members liked it. It had a bigger nose, with strong scents of black licorice, plums and gasoline. It had some pretty strong tannins too, which gave our mouths a drying sensation. That’s not terrific when drinking wine without food, but this wine did pair nicely with the fattier meats and such. With tastes of toast, white pepper and strawberries and a noticeable level of acid, you may not love this wine, but you won’t soon forget it.

Before we go on to the Carpazo Sangiovese, remember that no one knew the names or price points of what they were tasting since I’d decanted the wines into jars marked only with a number. Imagine their delight when they found out that the Sangiovese, which wound up being everyone’s favorite pick of the night, was only $10.99. Bravo! Scents of dark fruits, vanilla and leather gave way to tastes of plum jam, minerally rocks, and vanilla custard. One taster noted the “yin and yang of the wine.” Meaning it had some complexity, but also a smooth finish. The Developed and Complex tribes loved it, both with and without food. So if you are in one of those tribes, give this wine a whirl (and if you are in Seattle you can find it at your local Thriftway store).

Our virtual wine tasting was a ton of fun. To replicate the experience, get these jars to transport your wine, have a friend or two provide some nibbles, find a central drop off point to exchange the goods, then go Zoom and share the moment. And if you try some of the wines we’ve profiled, please let us know your thoughts. Cheers!

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