01,04,07,09,10 Clos du Caillou Quartz Ch.du Pape Vertical Tasting

3/23/14-Members of the Wine Group enjoyed a vertical tasting of five Quartz Rhone wines paired with a steak dinner.  The clear winner of the tasting was the 2009 Quartz, receiving 6 out of 9 first place votes, followed by the 2007, 2010, 2004 and 2001. The results suggest that most of the participants enjoy younger wines.

1983 Boeger Merlot

3/21/13-The brown bag wine sampled at the Thursday wine tasting at the Folsom Lakeforest wine store was a 1983 Boeger merlot.  Raj Sachdeva, the wine store owner, nailed it this time, guessing it to be a mid 80’s merlot.  The wine was very pleasant with softened sweet cherry fruit, and has met the 3^rd decade in reasonably good shape.

1986 Bogle Petite Sirah

3/14/13-The Thursday wine tasting at Folsom Lakeforest Wines featured a brown bag Petite Sirah that confused all participants except Teri Price, who nailed it.  The wine was still very fruity and enjoyable.

1973 Cades Sao Toao, Vinto Tinto Reserve

3/13/13-Dave and Ann Vik hosted the Wednesday knitters and served ricotta/spinach ravioli with browned butter sage sauce, salad on the side, and cake for dessert.  The brown bag wine for the night was a 1973 red wine from Portugal, and was well past its prime.

1979 Lytton Springs Zinfandel and 73 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard cabernet

3/7/13-First off, an update on the previous Post: I failed to mention the Heitz cabernet; Gary Rose nailed it, having detected eucalyptus, which is a typical flavor in Martha’s wines (some people suspect she tossed a few berries in the grape truck as it left the vineyard).  In addition, Ann Vik correctly noted that the picture of the 1984 Ch. Montelena was actually a 1982 wine (I failed to take a picture of the 1984-sorry about that!).

The 79 Zinfandel was the brown bag wine for the night, and was amazingly youthful and fruity.  As with most older zinfandels, most guessed it to be a merlot or cabernet.  The wine won a multitude of blind tastings when originally released.

Lake Forest Wine Tastings

2/28/13-The Folsom Wine Group meets at the Folsom Lake Forest Wine Store for Thursday wine tastings, and have recently enjoyed a brown bag tasting of older wines.  The 1983 Caymus cabernet was quite youthful and some thought it to be a Bordeaux.  The 79 Pichon Lalande was also very youthful and enjoyable.  The 1984 Ch. Montelena chardonnay was the most enjoyed and many returned for seconds. 

1976 Sausal Zinfandel

2/13/13-The Wednesday Knitters was hosted by Keith and Helen Faust.  Dinner featured baked spaghetti, tossed salad, garlic bread and ricotta cheese cake for dessert.  The brown bag wine of the night was a 1976 Sausal Zinfandel that was incredibly youthful and fruity.