May 23

Last night went well. There were 10 of us in attendance. Lisa presented the wines and she did a great job. Again there were two planned wines and one bonus wine. The first one we tried was Sarah's Merlot Besson Vineyard, a smooth & silky merlot that everyone seemed to enjoy. It was voted a Best Value in the Wall Street Journal in March of this year. This wine normally retails for $31, we had it specially priced for the Divas at $27.

Next up was my favorite of the evening...Ca'na Cabernet Sauvignon. What a beauty! This wine (to me) had cocoa powder and raspberries on the nose, and it followed through on the palate. Just gorgeous. It regularly retails for $40, special Diva price was $36.

Next was Gunderloch Riesling Spatlese Diva...see why I chose that one? :-) It was a sweet, but not overly sweet white wine. Lots of tropical fruits on the nose and the palate. Quite nice!

I had opened the reds about an hour before everyone arrived to allow them to breathe. Good thing I did, because I discovered the merlot was corked (tainted with TCA). It was helpful, though, because it enabled me to show the ladies what a "corked" wine smells like...a damp, musty basement.

Lisa brought along some educational materials that were very helpful. The first was an article on the ins and outs of wine tasting and can be accessed here Tasting 101. There was also a sheet on White Wine Characteristics and Red Wine Characteristics. I think, thanks to Lisa, we all learned something new!

I leave you with a toast I found. "When wine enlivens the heart, may friendship surround the table." Next meeting is June 21 at 6:30. Until then...