Red Wine and Chocolate

Our February get together had a focus on red wine and chocolate. We did a blind tasting with 12 bottles of wine. Wow!

Serious wine tasting going on here.  Legs, no legs, long finish, hint of cherry, let me just taste that one more time  :)

Bonnie got drawn in when we all got excited about a certain syrah that she had brought. Her Barnard Griffin 2007 Syrah came in second place! Their 2007 Cabernet came in third. We were all very impressed with our local Richland winery.

There was food tasting

chocolate sipping

and glass tipping

The big surprise was our number one first place winner!

Hard Row to Hoe   Cabernet Franc
2006 Riverbend Vineyard Wahluke Slope

A delicious and smooth offering that will penetrate your palate leaving you lusting for more. 

 This was a chance bottle gifted to Marsha from her neighbors.

 Of the four newest Washington appellations authorized within the Columbia Valley AVA, the Wahluke Slope may hold the most untapped potential. An 81,000-acre triangular slice of desolate scrubland, it is nestled above the Columbia River in south-central Washington, and wins high marks for the way its concentrated heat ripens Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Thanks Marsha for taking all the great pictures!

Feb. Red Wine & Chocolate

We had a fabulous day at MaryAnn's house. There were 12 wines and as many appetizers- groan- All SO delicious! We're going to have to start a WWW Cookbook! Who wants to type the recipes? Maybe we could sell them to pay for our wine trip to Hawaii!!!

Just a minute while I unbutton my pants- oh-sorry.

For those of you unable to come today, we had a blind tasting. The # 1 winner was HARD ROW TO HOE, CABERNET FRANC 2006, the majority of the grapes were from the Riverbend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope. Here's what the Columbian said about it:

"This Cabernet Franc is a beautifully complex wine that has cherry, pipe tobacco, green peppercorns, strawberry, and cocoa flavors opening to a broad palate and firm tannins."
We also had fun reading the label- now we have to go to Lake Chelan to get the whole story on the label.
We also had some Barnard Griffin winners. If anyone wrote them down, please let me know the runners up.