Speedy Wine Tasting at the WBC09

Someone at WBC09 described the Live Blogging Wine Tasting event as “speed dating” with wine. For each wine, we had 5 minutes to talk with the representative (usually the winemaker), ask questions, taste the wine, and take notes before the next representative was at our table to start the process all over again. I tasted 11 wines total during the speed tasting. The comparison to speed dating was perfect because 5 minutes was enough time for a quick introduction, a little flirting, and a decision as to whether or not there was enough interest for a follow-up, but definitely not enough time to learn everything there was to offer or to really get a detailed impression. For me, though, there were a couple of differences, mainly that I tried to take pictures and to tweet during the event. I would never do (or at least openly do) either of those things during speed dating. That said, although I took a number of pictures, most of them didn’t turn out, and anyone who follows me on Twitter (@Alleigh) knows that I quickly abandoned my attempt to Tweet in order to spend a little more quality time with the wine.

With that in mind, here is a quick overview of how I rated each wine in this post. In an effort to keep this organized and make my notes more searchable in the future, I’m going to put my tasting notes in separate posts that are organized by rating level.

5 Corks
2005 Cornerstone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon (
winery)—$100

4.5 Corks
2007 Benovia Winery Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir (vineyard)—$55

4 Corks
2006 Clif Bar Gary’s Improv Syrah (winery)—$35
2007 Cline Ancient Vines Mouvedre (
winery)—$16

3.5 Corks
2005 Rodney Strong Vineyards’ Rockaway Pinot Noir (vineyard)—$75
2005 Snows Lake Two (
vineyard)—$45
2007 Cupcake Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (
vineyard)—$13
2007 Foggy Bridge Chardonnay (
winery)—$18

3 Corks
2007 Lion’s Pride Pinot Noir (website)—$35
2007 Tandem Chardonnay (
vineyard)—$54

2.5 Corks
2007 Line 39 Petite Sirah (website)—$10
NV Pinot Evil Pinot Noir (
website)—$19.99

Comments

  1. Craig Camp says

    Thanks so much for your kind comments about our 05 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Doing the Live Blogging event was exhausting, but great fun!

  2. Joyce Stavert says

    Great to have met you Alleigh, albeit briefly, at the speed blogging. Glad you enjoyed the Foggy Bridge Chardonnay and hope to have you taste some of our other wines.

  3. Alleigh says

    Craig and Joyce–Thank you both for not only visiting the site, but also for commenting. It was great that we had a chance for speedy introductions during the speed tasting, and clearly, I had a wonderful time with your wines.

    Thank you for taking the time to come Santa Rosa and introducing all of us wine bloggers to your wines. We all really appreciated it.

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