The GrapeVine Digest

Give It A Swirl
Try a cool glass of wine for those hot summer days. Enjoy!

White – Mouton Cadet Blanc (France)

The wine has a fine, light, straw colour with pale gold highlights and a refined fresh nose on which distinctive floral aromas combine with fresh apples and citrus fruits and a tiny hint of toast on the finish. The Sauvignon Blanc in the blend brings refinement and texture, while Semillon and Muscadelle give substance and the impression of roundness in the mouth. The long finish, expressive and harmonious on ripe fruit with a slightly mineral tinge, is entirely typical of the appellation.

Rosé – Crios de Susana Balbo Rosé of Malbec (Argentina)

A beautiful, deep, vibrant rosé color. Has a surprising amount of glycerin and body for a rosé wine, and beautiful aromas of fresh, ripe wild strawberries. On the palate, the flavors of strawberries and cherries come rushing in, accompanied by some spice notes and a clean, dry finish.

Red – Tarara Wild River Red (Virginia)

Blackberry, cherry and raspberry on the nose lead to a fruity soft palate with smooth tannins and a sweet, lingering finish. This is a medium bodied wine meant to be enjoyed now. Serve this wine lightly chilled with a rich chocolate dessert.

Wine Tastings
You don't know if you like it until you try it!

Saturday August 14th – 12pm – 4pm

French for Barbecue is….BARBECUE

With Labor Day fast approaching we thought it would be a good time to show off some well-priced reds from France that will pair nicely with a variety of food off the grill. Come join us this Saturday, August 14th, from 12PM until 4PM to sample these tasty values! and pick some up at discounted prices.

Weygandt Wines | 3519 Connecticut Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20008

www.weygandtwines.com

Saturday August 14th -- 12pm – 3:30pm

The Longest Running Wine Tasting
This is the longest running wine tasting in DC beginning in 1971. 10 Different Wines Every Week, including 1 Mystery / Blind Tasting Wine

Bell Wine & Spirits | 1821 M St NW | Washington, DC

www.bellwineshop.com

Save the Date
Upcoming exciting wines events that may be of interest

Wednesday August 18th – 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Forgotten Grapes Wine Tasting

Lock up your Pinot, hide away your Chardonnay, and keep your Merlot on the down low, because wine expert, culinary entrepreneur, and creator of ForgottenGrapes.com Chris Kern is bringing his fun, irreverent, interactive and pop-culture-filled "Getting Friendly with Forgotten Grapes" wine tasting event to Twisted Vines Bottleshop & Bistro in Arlington on Wednesday, August 1th.

Chris will introduce you to five lesser-known wine varietals – Semillon, Gruner Veltliner, Carmenere, Mourvedre, and Brachetto D’Acqui – that you’ll learn to love (or at least want to get more friendly with) while entertaining you with stories, songs, jokes, and interactive challenges centered around these uncommon Forgotten Grapes. It’s a wine tasting event unlike any other you’ve ever attended: irreverent, interactive, educational, completely unpretentious, and totally off-the-wall!

Join us for this very special one-night-only wine tasting event on Wednesday, August 18th at Twisted Vines Bottleshop & Bistro in Arlington. The first wine pours at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are only $35 per person, which includes the show and pours of all five Forgotten Grapes varietals (the best bargain in D.C. wine going!).

Twisted Vines Bottleshop & Bistro | 2803 Columbia Pike | Arlington, VA
571-482-8581 or twisted@twisted-vines.com

Restaurant Week 2010 -- The insanity begins.

Over 200 of metropolitan Washington, DC's finest restaurants offer multi-course meals prepared especially for this summer event. Destination DC and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington presents the 16th biannual Washington, DC Restaurant Week from August 16-22, 2010. At participating restaurants lunch will be $20.10 for a three-course fixed-price meal and dinner will be $35.10 for a three-course fixed-price meal.

See washington.org/restaurantwk for a list of participating restaurants.

Happenings with The GrapeVine
We made it through over 150 wines, over 6 days at 2 wine conferences! Boy were we pooped! At 8:30 in the morning, we’re sitting in front of 10 wines that we needed to assess and take notes on. It’s a hard job people, but somebody’s got to do it! J The French Wine Society conference kicked off our ‘wine week’ but we had a different view of that one since we volunteered. At 7am we showed up at the French Embassy to set up glassware, placemats, handouts, etc. Then throughout each presentation we poured wines…one 2 hour seminar had 27 wines! At the end of it all, we had a Champagne toast and received kudos and thanks from the French Wine Society President, Education Director, and Conference Chairperson. A great time was had by all! Next we were off to the Society of Wine Educators Conference. No apron here, we sat and enjoyed the wines and listened to the presenters. And what amazing sessions! Some favs were New Zealand: France of the New World, Hot New Aromatic White Varietals, and the Iron Sommelier Competition. Blog recaps will be posted on The GrapeVine Blog as soon as we can slow down over here!

The GrapeVine Tasting Club is on vacation for the summer. We’ll be back in the fall with some very exciting events: Live Chef Demo with Wine Pairings, Cognac vs Armagnac, Wine Cocktails…you don’t want to miss it! You can stay in touch with us by checking us out on Twitter, Facebook, and The GrapeVine Blog. We love hearing from you!


For additional information on anything seen, or if there is anything you'd like to see in The Grapevine Digest, please email us at thegrapevinellc@gmail.com

French Wine Society Conference

A lot of text won't even do this conference justice...but pics of the wine will!

Joie De Vivre

Once again I had the pleasure of attending the French Wine Society (FWS) annual conference. Last year I was a guest, or student shall I say...and this year I volunteered as a wine pourer. Two entirely different experiences but I can definitely say that I was still able to hear the presentations and participate in the wine tastings as a volunteer. There is always so much information being presented, so much to learn, and so many wines to taste!

This year's approach was a little different than last year, instead of covering a little bit about every region of France, this year the FWS highlighted a few regions and the speakers were able to cover them in greater detail. For example, the speaker on the Burgundy region didn't just talk about the wines themselves, he went into a detailed discussion of how the wines achieve their Grand or Premier Cru status and can we, the consumers, tell the difference. Of course there were a few people that thought they could tell the difference. But the majority were honest and thought that while the history and geology of how the status is gained is interesting and honorable, the system is old and doesn't really allow entry for new winemakers. The Bordeaux speaker also spoke to the same topic. Extraordinary presentation from him! Dr Benjamin Lewin, MW wrote the book, "What Price Bordeaux" and presented wines from 1st and 2nd growths and posed questions about why the pricing of Bordeauxs can be so outrageous and how pricing is determined. Some attendees said the presentation was controversial but very informative. I agree with the later.

A couple of the lesser known regions were also covered like Jura and Cahors. The wines were delish, and I even got to take a couple of the leftovers home (a perk of being a volunteer). Only problem is that wines from those regions aren't readily available is most wine shops in this area. The organizers of the conference even had trouble getting some of those wines in the country. If the French themselves can't get the wines...we have no chance, LOL!

Another new feature at the conference was the French Wine Scholar exam and regional exams for the Rhone and Provence. Each exam consisted of a blind tasting, a regional map, and theory. After seeing the study guides and then witnessing students taking the exam, this is serious business. My Burgundy certification exam was pretty much enough for me for the year!!