Wino Band Practice and Rhone Wine Tasting

3/16/11-Members of the Wino Band and spouses met at the home of Tim and Jane Curtis enjoying a dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu paired with 5 Rhone wines. The wines were selected to emphasize the different blending of the 13 varietals available to the Rhone winemakers. Robert Parker ratings (RP) are shown on the below chart with the varietal percentages for each wine. Unfortunately the enjoyable Janasse was slightly corked and came in last in the voting. The Beaucastel was the favorite and the most complex of the wines; probably because the wine contained all 13 of the Rhone grapes. The California Rhone L’Adventure was a very close second and as you might expect, a bit fruitier than the French Rhones. The group also enjoyed a 2007 Grapillon d’Or Gigondas (80% Grenache-20% Syrah) provided by the Vik’s and compared favorably with the others.


YR WINE             RP GREN SYRAH CARIGNAN MOURVEDRE
01 Dom. Janasse   95   100
07 Clos del Rey    96    20                    80
07 Ch. Beaucastel 92    30        10        10Cinsault     30 + 9 varietals
06 L’Adventure     96   30         30                              40

1997 Gaja Barolo

3/8/11-The Wednesday Knitters met at the home of Carl and Kathy Hennige for a pizza and salad dinner, paired with two Italian wines; a 1997 Angelo Gaja Barolo Sperss (Parker 99 points), and a 2006 Fontodi Chianti Classico Reserve (95 points Parker and Wine Spectator).

2006 Fontodi Flaccianello

2/25/11-Members of the Folsom Wine Group met for dinner at the home of Tim and Jane Curtis. Spaghetti and Meatballs were paired with two delicious Italian wines. A 2006 Fontodi Flaccianello Tuscany Sangiovese (Wine Spectator 99 points-#8 of the top 100 wines of 2009) and a 2003 Brunello were enjoyed with the meal.