BOX VS BOTTLE… A BLIND TASTING.

I have come to the final event of the tasting season at the Mullis Center, then a three month break. This is going to be fun and interesting. Six box wines will be poured into pitchers along with six wines from bottles. A pinot grigio, chardonnay, malbec (2), cabernet sauvignon and a Portuguese red. The participants will have to determine if the wine they are drinking is from a box or a bottle. It is not so easy these days as the quality of wine from the box is considerably better then in the past. This will make for good research and a nice article to follow the tasting event. Look for it and see how the box wines fared.

I am also doing some field research next week where I will be tagging along with a wine salesperson to see how wine stewards taste, and listen to their analysis of the wines. I have always been curious about tasting approaches since there seems to be no hard and fast rules. Some prefer to taste their whites at room temperature and some like it chilled. Some prefer to taste a decanted red and some don’t mind a pop and pour. Then there is the analysis. This can change from taster to taster. How can that be since they are tasting the same wine? I will get to the bottom of the issue in the article to follow the research.

In August I am looking forward to “An Intimate Tasting With The Wine Maker” featuring Chris Primus, the talented wine maker at San Juan Vineyards. San Juan Vineyards received three double gold medals at the recent Seattle Wine Competition. One for their ’08 Cabernet Sauvignon, 08 Destiny Ridge Red and ’08 Cabernet Franc. Chris is the man responsible for the wines and we are very proud to have him in our backyard. The event will be held at the vineyard and is by invitation only. It will be an opportunity to ask the wine maker some questions and learn some more about his approach to wine. Chris Primus is a great speaker and very knowledgeable. I will post an article about the event after it’s over, so look for that.

The busy season is coming upon our little tourist town and I am curious to see which wines will dominate the customer’s preference. It changes from year-to-year and it is always interesting to see what has the peoples interest. Last year the popular varietal was sauvignon blanc. Will that continue or will people look to something else. It is nice to see folks trying something besides pinot grigio. Pinot noir sales are softening and it looks like red blend sales are continuing to rise. Will that trend continue this summer? We will see. I have a lot to write about so I hope my fingers and mind are ready for the challenge. Thanks for supporting my blog. Cheers! Stan The Wine Man