Inaugural American Wine Tasting Night
January 21, 2009
Recently I invited a dozen friends over to taste American wines, in celebration of the election results. I thought I’d share them on Inauguration Day for those who would like to lift a glass to President Obama.
An easy way to host a wine tasting night with very few organizational requirements is to ask each of your guests to bring a bottle. To narrow down the huge scope of wine, choosing a theme is a good idea. Most of the wines that we tasted can be found at your local bottle shop for a reasonable price — these are not fancy wines!
We tasted blind and instead of numbering the hidden bottles, we named them. Whites and rosés were named after First Ladies and reds were named after Presidents. It made for a few extra giggles and running jokes all night long!
Round Hill, Chardonnay 2006 from California ($17.99 at Liberty Wine Merchant)
We nicknamed this one Nancy Reagan for our blind tasting purposes. A lady known for her interest in fashion and a First Lady of California, a stylish Chardonnay seemed appropriate. However, this is not a wine that I could “Just Say No” to.
It had a big fruit nose of ripe pear, apricot and other tree fruit. There were secondary buttery and vanilla notes suggest oak treatment. It was mild and soft on the finish.
You could sip this one on its own or pair it with a grilled chicken and pesto panini sandwich. Mmmm.
Cycles Gladiator, Pinot Grigio 2007 from the Central Coast of California ($15.99 from BC Liquor Stores)
This is a wine had a lot of acidity and bite, making it suit the nickname it was given: Hillary Clinton. Also like the First Lady, this wine didn’t take all the votes with our group.
The mineral and earthy notes in this wine in addition to a vegetal undertone (old salad or moldy grass were descriptors used) made the “gak factor” too high for many of our tasters.
We all thought it would be a better food wine than a solo-sipper. Seafood salad or fish perhaps?
Ernest & Julio Gallo Family Vineyards, White Zinfandel, 2007 from California ($7.99 at BC Liquor Stores)
Like Kool-Aid for grown ups, this is not a wine that you should take too seriously. With some notes of cassis and cherry, it’s a sweet, simple pink drink that can be enjoyed young. We drank this one blind, hidden behind the name of Jackie O, the youngest First Lady in history. This wine did not live up to her in terms of being cultivated and elegant.
My favourite guest quote during the tasting of this wine was “it’s what Baby Duck could have been — if it’d been good.”
Little Black Dress, Merlot 2006 from California ($13.99 from BC Liquor Stores)
This stern wine, named LBJ for tonight, wasn’t the most popular wine amongst our group of tasters. We got some black cherry, some spice (clove, cinnamon) tobacco and leather. “Smells like S & M!” was my favourite guest quote after sniffing this one.
“I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don’t always please all the people,” said President Johnson. The same could be said for Little Black Dress Merlot. It could get the job done (for example, washing down a weeknight Chicken Cacciatore dinner), but overall it was abrasive and experienced backlash from our group. Perhaps not as much as President Johnson during the Vietnam War, but it was noticeable.
Cycles Gladiator, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, from the Central Coast of California ($16.99 BC Liquor Stores)
It was like dark Dracula blood in the glass! We smelled black cherry, current, mahogany, cedar and some smoky notes. On the palate the wine was surprisingly smooth and the flavour went over really well with our crowd.
For under $20 a bottle, this wine could say “I am not a crook” like President Nixon, after whom we nicknamed the wine for the blind tasting purposes.
We had loads of dinner ideas for this one: steak with Gorgonzola sauce, roast beef or red pasta sauce with big chunks of chorizo in it.
Liberty School, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, from California ($23.99 at BC Liquor Stores)
We may have been too hard as a group on this wine, as it was hidden for blind tasting purposes behind the name George W Bush. We’d been finding some similarities between what we’d been tasting and the name on the bag — this goes to show what labels can do, even when they’re only for fun!
It had a black current kick to it, blackberry and some earthy and smoky notes. On the palate it was smooth and it opened up really nicely. It didn’t hit you over the head like the Cycles Gladiator Cab Sauv before it. It was more refined.
But we didn’t want to use words like “smooth” and “refined” for a wine that was in a brown paper bag with a big W on it! However, once the bags came off, this wine was one of the first bottles to empty. Maybe subconsciously there’s something we all love about G-Dub.
Clos du Bois, Merlot 2004 from the North Coast of California ($22.80 in BC Liquor Stores)
This wine is dry with fair tannins and acidity. We got raspberry, strawberry and current flavours. We had to say “Yes We Can” give this one time to breathe, as it was a bit overpowering when we first tried it. Coincidentally, we nicknamed the bottle Obama.
We thought this would make a good wine to have with a roast pork dinner.
The Show, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from Napa County, California ($21.99 at Liberty Wine Merchant)
We had nicknamed this one Bill Clinton and its dark purple colour would be enough to stain even the darkest blue dress.
In the glass we tasted ripe dark plum, black cherry and vanilla. This wine was generally a crowd pleaser. It had a fair acidity, but the strong fruit flavours kept the acid and tannin in balance.
It gets no points for environmentally-friendly bottling — the empty bottle seems heavier than many full ones!
Cycles Gladiator, Syrah 2006 from the Central Coast of California ($16.99 BC Liquor Stores)
Blackberry, musky, and cigar box sexy! This is an approachable wine that goes down smoothly for a great price. We imagined it with a slow cooked prime rib.
This is an easy wine to drink right away, which would have been a good idea for President William Henry Harrison (after whom we nicknamed this bottle). In 1841, he kicked the bucket after only 31 days in office. Seize the day!
Gray Fox Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from California ($6.99 at BC Liquor Stores)
Gray Fox is something that happens to people who leave their USA wine shopping until the very last minute and end up in a dodgy bottle shop with few choices. We got red raspberry, egg and mushroom on the nose of this nearly-medium bodied wine. It was high in acidity and out of balance.
This wine was shot down for good reason, unlike JFK, after whom we named this bottle.
R.H. Phillips, Night Harvest, Shiraz 2005 from California ($9.00 at BC Liquor Stores)
This wine had a mild, closed nose. Aptly, we’d named this wine after President Calvin Coolidge, known as Silent Cal. Perhaps Cal would have been the type to take part in a night harvest, as he said “let men in office substitute the midnight oil for the limelight.”
The understated President was a suitable pair for this mild wine. We concluded (after tasting blind) that this would be a good wine if 1) it is inexpensive 2) you opened it on a week night with a pasta dinner. At $9 a bottle, this is a good wine. I guess if you don’t do much, you can’t do much wrong.
Frontier Red, California Red Wine, a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Petite Syrah, Mouvedre, Cinsault and 
Carignane ($23.99 from Liberty Wine Merchant)
This red blend was fairly vegetal, with notes of cabbage and broccoli. There were also some smoky, woodsy and red fruit characters. It had a real bite of acidity that made it difficult to sip without food. We imagined this one with Steak Frites — some good fat to cut the acids!
We named it after President Lincoln, but I’m sure he had something more balanced when he celebrated the Civil War victory.
What did we learn from our wine tasting?
So many of us select, buy and judge our wines based on what we see on the label. For example, the sexy, naked Cycles Gladiator lady was enough to make 1/4 of our guests bring their wine. Even though we know you can’t judge a book by its cover, we keep doing it with our wines!
It’s a tough job for today’s wine consumer. Hopefully this list helps you next time you’re in the U.S.A. aisle of the liquor store looking for something that won’t break the bank or spoil your supper.
