AWS pours Paso Robles – Écluse

On Saturday, April 19, at Marché Bacchus, our own Andy Ashbaugh, President of the Las Vegas chapter of the American Wine Society, poured some of the portfolio of Écluse winery of Paso Robles.

OF COURSE I was there!

Before I get to the wines, let me tell you a little about Écluse winery. One of the smaller wineries on the map, they began as grape growers for several wineries. This gave Steve and Pam the opportunity to interact with such Paso Robles wine notables as Linne Calodo and SummerWood. They used the lessons learned in this process to make the decision to craft their own wines, and have gone from grape growers to award-winning winemakers in just a few seasons. Read more

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Swirl Envy Class, and oh so busy!

That’s the perfect description for the last week and a half for me, which explains the delay in updating the Blog! Thank goodness for Scott and Elaine’s Blog, which has done a wonderful job of keeping up to date on the items I’ve been unable to report.

I do have some stuff to share, though!

The Combatting Swirl Envy – Lite! class was great fun! A small group, we had an enjoyable time sipping wines, learning the finer points of swirling and wine etiquette, pairing wine with food, avoiding wine racism, and enjoying the spectacular artisanal cheeses and wines from Valley Cheese and Wine!

To those of you are requesting a class location on the West side of town, be assured that I’m working diligently to make that happen. Since I live in the NW area, it would be an easier travel time for me! Meanwhile, check out the website and Local Wine Events for information on the next class upcoming at Valley Cheese and Wine on October 9.

Now a quick overview of recent events:

1. National Wine Week! That was last week, and I attended on Monday. National Wine Week is held twice a year and for a small fee of $10.00 plus lunch, you get the chance to taste up to twenty very nice wines. National Wine Week is held locally at Smith & Wollensky on The Strip. Many locals don’t make it to The Strip on a regular basis, and being down there during a lunch hour was a special treat for me. The website is http://www.nationalwineweek.com, and it’s worth the effort to take a look and make plans for the Spring!

2. The now quarterly AWS dinner at Café Bleu, the restaurant arm of the Cordon Bleu Cooking School! The wines of Banfi were featured, and Scott and Elaine did a great job of covering the event on their Blog.

The next posting (in a few days – I promise!) will be on the newest wine shop in Vegas. I visited there at length on Saturday afternoon and had a wonderful time! Stay tuned!

 

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Dueling Blogs, Sneaky Tastings, Festivals!

Saturday was bunches of fun as the Fritz & Tex’s Wine Club Thing met for its regular luncheon outing at the Marché Bacchus tasting. Because of previous obligations I could not join them for lunch, but was tasked by Agathe to choose the wines for the blind tasting! Gleefully and cackling madly, I chose two: a 2001 Michael Chiarlo Barbera D’Asti and a 2004 Saint Benoit Chateauneuf-Du-Pape Grande Garde. Both were yummy, but the Chiarlo stumped everybody. I confessed to my beloved group that if I didn’t already know what it was, I would not be able to guess what it was. After Rob, the MB Wine Guy stopped by the table and tasted the second wine, I asked him if this particular wine was typical. Since he had already seen the wine bottle, he gave a couple of observations, and the folks were able to narrow it down to a Chateauneuf du Pape. Incredible.

There’s more about the tasting on Scott and Elaine’s Blog, Vino Las Vegas at

The day was followed up by a tasting at Tex & Gidget’s lovely home. It was Part Duo of a two-part Italian wine series. The first one two weeks ago demonstrated my blind-tasting prowess as I was able to ace four of the six wines. Saturday night’s tasting was, um, *humbling* as I bombed on all six. I will probably never get to be a truly snobby wine snob because my palate dies at a faster rate than my ego can grow! It just means that I have to drink more wine!

I had a great time at Khoury’s (Durango) last week as I stopped there for a tasting. Jim Moore, the owner/winemaker of l’Uvaggio di Giacomo winery in Napa was there with his American-Italian wines. I tasted the Arneis (yes, that’s a grape), Barbera, Rosé, and the dessert wine. The Barbera was wonderful, and I have to admit to being disappointed that he did not bring a Nebbiolo. I *hate* Nebbiolo in general, but since Fritz Reese brought an American Nebbiolo to the first Italian-themed tasting at Tex & Gidget’s, I’ve been intrigued. I usually find that for my tastes, Nebbiolos are thin and tannic, and not enough fruit for my overly-American palate. The Nebbiolo that Fritz brought was almost Pinot-like in character, and I fell in love with it. I had been looking forward to trying one of Jim’s Nebbiolos. The Napa Nebbiolos could make a fan of me!

I bought two bottles of the Barbera Rosé, because it was absolutely incredible. It’s a Rosé, all right, but it has so much “red wi

Thursday night again found me at Khoury’s (Eastern) enjoying a Sanford tasting. Yes, I bought some wine! I bought a Sanford Chardonnay which was so close to my idea of a perfect Chard that it was almost Mersault! Just enough oak to add the creamy character that I love, but not so much that I felt that I was biting into paneling.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but although it’s not really “local,” the Trader Joe’s located on Washington near Buffalo in the city has wine tastings and food demos nearly every day. Stop by and say hi to Robin or Tony!

The classes for Vegas Wineaux are being scheduled, and I will have more information for everyone shortly. I can’t wait to see you there!

 

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