Daniel and Spencer Wine Tasting

Last night I attended a wine tasting at Space Gallery. It was $10 prepay and $20 at the door. Daniel of the store Daniel and Spencer on Polk Street hosts these soirees every couple of months for people to come in and taste the wines he sells at his store.

The crowd was for the most part young and did not appear to be one of regular wine drinkers which was actually quite refershing. There was no pretense just a group of SF folks gathered in a gallery to taste wine.

There were 5 whites and 5 reds on offer.

The first wine was a Procesco from Italy Zonin at $6.99. It was dry not sweet and not bad for the price point. The next white was Climber California White 2007 at $7.99. This wine is a strange blend. It's primarily sauvignon blanc with a small amount of muscat that adds a sweet finish to the wine which I did not care for. The third white was Cameron Hiughes 2006 St. Ynes Chardonnay $7.99. This wine is not too oaky and for a Chardonnay from St. Ynes is a good deal though I am not a Chardonnay fan. There was then a French Chardonnay 2006 Domaine des Nimbrets Pouilly Fusse at $8.99. A traditional French oaky Chardonnay this was an interesting contrast to the Santa Ynez Chardonnay and if you like traditional Chardonnay then you will like this wine. The last white was my favorite Dry Creek Chenin Blanc 2007 at $8.99. The CHein Blanc was crisp and bright with a nice fruit finish. In fact of all the wines I tasted last night this was by far my favorite.

The reds were Hangtown Red at $7.99 a spicy red from the El Dorado foothills. The Climber Red a kitchen sink blend primarily of Zinfandel at $7.99 which in my opinion was not well balanced. The zin was too powerful and did not meld well with the other varietals in the blend. The La Croix Martelle French Pinot at $5.99 I did not like at all. It was very tanic with no fruit. The Healdsburg Ranch Sonoma Cabernet 2007 at $9.99 a bottle was ok but for that price point I did n ot think it was so great. The last wine was Owl House California Red at $9.99. This was a fruitier red medium body and tasted like an interesting blend though it did not state on the label which wines were in it.

Bottom line if you are just getting into wine or if you want to taste a nice cross section of wines at bargain prices then I suggest you check out the next Daniel Spencer tasting. Daniel is a nice guy and he has a great concept of trying to pass on good quality wine at bargain prices. The guys who work for him are friendly and his tastings allow you to try many unique and different blends. After the tasting I felt my 3 hours and $10 were well spent!

All About Wine

I like to drink wine. I suppose maybe it's because I grew up with it? As a California girl, my mom and dad always had wine with dinner, it was the norm. I personally did not start drinking wine until I spent my junior year of college studying in Italy. In Italy wine was inexpensive in fact you could buy wine for as much as bottled water.

I remember sitting in our apartment at Via Montecengio drinking Frizzante wine that was $2 a bottle andit was actually good wine. When I threw a party for my 21st birthday (in Italy you throw your own b-day parties) my sister came shopping with me and we had a cart full of wine. I distinctly remember her asking isn't this too much wine. No I said, it will get finished. Not only did we finish the wine but my friend Elsa went home and raided her dad's cellar so we could have more wine.

Drinking wine is an experience. It's social and brings people together. It can help set the mood, enhance food and help you relax. Over the years I have learned a lot about wine by drinking a lot of it and by attending tastings and various wine events.

Friends come to me seeking advice on what wine to buy, how to taste wine etc and so I decided to start this blog to discuss good wines I have tasted, share information about fun wine events that are coming up and review wine events that I have been to because the best way to learn about wine is to drink it. Salut!