Our 1st Gathering!

I had spent nearly 3 hours on this blog this morning and at the slip of my hand on the laptop I lost it all....so I will be back at another time to start with a fresh mind to fill you in on our findings. Right now I may say it was a wonderful gathering of close friends and learning. So I will be back.....it is now 6am and I need to sign off for a bit. There needs to be a go back button on this blog editor or if there is one I need to know where it is located!

Well it is an hour later so lets give this another try. I have come up with the idea to type a section then save the blog and go back into it for another section. That way at least if I hit something by mistake I do not loose all my work. Live and learn. This may take me a most of the day to finalize but bear with me.

Let me introduce our entourage for this study:
Chrissy, Gaynor, Jackie, Lisa & myself. At this first study hosted by Chrissy we had a turnout of 5. As I stated before 5 or 6 is a nice number. I feel if it were ever to grow to more than 10 it would be more of a social time and not a learning time. I feel 10 different bottles of wine is a bit much for 1 study. I tend to still lean with the idea that 5-6 is the perfect number. If in time we each bring 1 other close friend with a learning interest of wine into the study we could probably have the same effect. In future plannings I think it would go well if we would now and then have a larger crowd at certain times in which to be a social time for us to share with some friends some of our favorite wines we will find in the next several months. I know it sounds good to want to include everyone we know, but somehow I feel the intimacy I felt with this first one would be taken away. So perhaps my friends will agree to some extent with me that larger times will be for social occasions of our choosing and field trips to wineries and wine bars. My intentions are that we learn and enjoy one another and the wines & foods. I am glad though that I see the interest which is evident on my friends faces and joy in their voices that they wish to share...this to me is a good sign that this has been a good idea!

Chrissy was the hostess for the first study. She was excellently prepared. I had loaned her my books to prep. Chrissy did a presentation on which glass to choose, how to host a wine tasting party, wine & food pairings, keeping an open bottle of wine and which wines can survive & wine serving temperature guidelines. She had prepared a simple pumpkin soup to go with her offering of an Italian Tuscan Wine Rosso Tuscana 2008.
It was bright ruby red in color, with cherry and strawberry notes and was soft & velvety in the mouth. It had thin, soft legs. This was a very good wine and a great accompaniment to the soup.
You can find out more with link provided above.

My wine was next. I had brought a bottle of homemade wine which was given to me as a gift. There was no label on the bottle and the person who gave the wine to me had no idea of i ts makings. I had thought it possibly could be a white zin. It was pale pink in color. Fruity and dry and low in alcohol. It was not a hit at our taste! It was much like drinking watered down juice. BUT, it did have strong legs. There was no sediment in the wine. I had thought possibly this would be a bad tasting wine so I pared it with sweets....dried strawberries,cranberries,cherries, raisins and dark chocolates. Chocolate always makes things better! But to my surprise this wine did not leave a bitter, bad taste...it just left no taste or impression. This wine I think could be used to make a wonderful salad dressing or cooking with. I try to not waste.

Lisa was next. She brought a Napa Chardonnay 2007 from Robert Mondavi Wineries.
Chardonnays are grown and planted all over. They are a long, cold fermentation. Part of the juice is cold fermented in stainless steel tubs. The remainder of some is them placed in French Oak barrels. This wine can be buttery, oaky and fruity. The best cheeses t o go with this may be provolone, Gruyere and mild cheddar. 55 degrees is the correct drinking temperature. This is from the southern tip of the Napa Valley. This wine was dry to semi dry a wonderful taste on your palate. I am a red wine drinker but this Chardonnay I would drink again. Good choice Lisa! Its notes were tropical fruit, floral and spice. Lisa pared this with a wonderfully delicious pork loin roast with butter herb sauce! Yum!!! She also baked her hubby's favorite 2 layer dark chocolate cake with cool whip icing & chocolate shavings! OMG!!!! Lisa.....you can cook for me any day...or if you ever have leftovers!

Gaynor brought a wonderful ice wine. The ice grapes are pictured above. The ice wine she chose was a NY Johnston Estate....Sweet Dreams 2001 & this was a great wine. In ice wine the grapes must be thoroughly frozen on the vine. This Ice Wine was a Vidal Ice Wine with 10% alcohol. You could taste and smell the honey, apricots and peaches. Gaynor pared this wine with water crackers topped with a slice of pear and Gorgonzola. As Chrissy said it nicely...."YUM,YUM....OH GOSH...YUM!!!" Indeed this was! Gaynor you were a hit with your choice!

And finally Jackie. She brought a South Australian Merlot 2007 from Oxford Landings. This wine had nice heavy legs, peppery taste and smell along with the sweetness of cherries. Jackie pared this with herb crusted crackers, sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese. Simply delicious and greatly pared. I am partial to reds so Jackie's and Chrissy's were immediately my favorites. I already knew I loved Ice Wine but have only had it on a few occasions. I now have another brand to add to my favorites. And Lisa's Chardonnay was exquisite to me as I will now occasionally have a glass of this particular Chardonnay, but my heart belongs still to the reds!

We first set out sampling each persons wine choice and discussing it for a while. Then we cleansed our palates with water crackers. We rinsed our crystal glasses out with water after each sampling so as not to have traces of the previous wine. After we had finished sampling we then ate our wonderfully prepared items and indulged in a fantastic luncheon and glass of wine of our choice.

We discussed growing our group eventually and are making plans for the next study. We are planning on attending Greendance Winery.
This will be our field trip for the fall. Gaynor will be the hostess for the December study.

Chrissy has agreed to be the leader in place of any hostess who would like her to do so.
I will be the one who will write the blog.
Gaynor has agreed to be the photographer.
We will add duties as we see fit....women who work together will stay in touch!

SIMPLE PUMPKIN SOUP RECIPE
1/2 C onion
3T butter
2C mashed cooked pumpkin
1t salt
1T sugar
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 ground pepper
3C chicken broth
1/2 C half & half or fat free half & half
Chop the onions and brown with butter in pan. Put mashed pumpkin with onions in pan. Add salt,sugar,nutmeg and pepper. Slowly add chicken broth and heat thoroughly, but do not boil.
To serve pour into a tureen and add cream. Makes 4-6 small servings.