Seven Word Wine Review

Me being creative

Vim, of 12x75.com, started Seven Word Wine Review.  (click on link to read the story).  I had read various 7 word reviews on Twitter and loved them.  What a fun, unpretentious way to rate wine.  I contacted Vim about started a chapter in Oregon.  Our first event had 8 people and was held at our home.  I asked everyone to bring a bottle of wine and a dish to share with all.  This past Saturday evening we had our 3rd event.  16 people attended. The requirement for this evening was to bring a French Wine under $25.00 and a dish paired with your wine. The challenge was that it was a blind tasting.  I must admit we all found this to be incredibly challenging as we didn't know the varietel which almost always leads you to your if it's Pinot Noir it must be berries, if it's Chardonnay it must be buttery oak.

Wine is poured, swirled, sniffed and sipped.  For some of us (aka me) this has to be done more that once.  We then throw out words, fruity, grass, lemons and I sit at my laptop and type furiously to catch all the phrases.  From those phrases we all come up with a sentence. This past Saturday we were very creative, so creative that a person on Twitter could not understand what the we were saying about the wine. Maybe our reviews were too specific to our group?

The first wine we had was Vin de Sauvoie Apremont.  On the nose there was lots of tropical fruit and sweetness, but when we tasted the wine it fell flat.  Not a hint of sweetness, more puckerish and had a rusty nail undertone.  This is the 7 word wine review we came up with.

“Bipolar Hawaiian in need of tetanus shot”

Next wine was Chateau La Freynelle 2009 Bordeaux.  On the nose it smelled like walking through a candy shop filled with sherbet, cotton candy and sweetness, but alas on the taste it was very disappointing not a hint of the candy heaven we had on the nose.  So this is what we came up with.

“Willy Wonka’s factory for a diabetic oompahloompah”

Yes, our reviews are not conventional, we are not creating reviews to sell the wine, but creating reviews to have fun and learn.  At this event we had three new people who were intimidated by wine.  They feared that their lack of wine knowledge would show.  By having everyone say out loud what they smelled or tasted gave them confidence in participating.

Now this is where it got totally awesome.  We poured Des Hauts Chassis Crozes Hermitage 2010.  One of the newbies looked at me and quietly said, "I smell wet newspaper and canned tuna."  She was right, many of us smelled this and we determined that the bottle was corked. She thought she was being silly and would never have said anything at a restaurant as her confidence in wine was lacking. At the end of the evening she thanked me for encouraging her to come as she had learned that wine tasting is not intimidating, but loads of fun and she learned so much.

So while our reviews may not be conventional these once a month get togethers are educational and fun and I think that this is what Vim intended seven word wine review to be.

*if you would like to join the 7 word wine review revolution, go to http://12x75.com/contact/ and let Vim know that you want to play along too. 

I am my father's daughter.

Me and my daddy. 

In my father's will he left a coin to T.  Only 215 of these coins had been minted.  Last week I took the coin to a dealer to have appraised.

The conversation went as follows:

Dealer: (checking internet) I see only a few were minted. Very interesting coin.  How much do you want for it?

Me:  I don't want to sell it, I need to know a value for insurance purposes.

Dealer: (takes coin and throws it back on the counter towards me) This is a re-strike.

Me: How can you tell?

Dealer:  The 8 is larger than the 9

Me: Could I use your magnifying glass to see? (hands me glass) I don't see any difference.

Dealer: It's not a re-strike, it's a re-pour.  This coin has no value.

I left the coin dealer and as I drove home I wept.  I wept for my father who was once again duped by someone he helped financially.  I wept for my father who would give the shirt off his back to those that needed it.  I wept for my father and for how many times people continued to abuse his kindness and love.

Something made me stop at another coin dealer in town.  I took it in and it so happened that there was a coin dealer from New York who was very familiar with South African coins.  I asked him to look at the coin as I was told that it was a re-strike or re-pour.  He looked at the coin and he told me that is was genuine.  It was the real thing. His advice was to send it into NGC for appraisal.

The relief that washed over me was immense.  Finally someone had not duped my father.  When my father was murdered and I was going through all of his things I came across a wooden box.  I opened the wooden box and was in disbelief.  There were hundreds of pieces of papers of IOU's that people had signed of money they 'borrowed' from my father.  There were promises of paybacks and dates.  The amounts were incredulous. To this day not one of those people have come forward to repay the loan. We as a family made a decision not to approach those people.  That is not what my father would have wanted.

I am my father's daughter.  I give of my heart too freely.  I love too deeply and I trust blindly. I am the first to be there to pick someone up when they have fallen.  I am the first to be someone's cheerleader when their depression engulfs them.  I am the one that gently pushes and helps people towards their dreams and goals.

My mother reminded me today that I will always be who I am.  That I will always be my father's daughter.

And that is something to be proud of.

Hullo, is this thing still on?

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I am still here. Just busy trying to look busy then be busy then have a melt down because I am not busy enough.

I aim to blog about everything. Soon. That's if I don't get distrac.... oooh look a squirrel.

Our Evening in Antica Terra Heaven.

When I received the email from Antica Terra that they were hosting their very first picnic in the vineyards I quickly called and reserved our spot.  The limit was 40 people.  I have always wanted to try wines from Antica Terra, but they were a little out of my budget.  The cost per person for the picnic was $35.00. Affordable and finally I would get to sip on wines that many buzz about on Twitter.

Antica Terra

The day started off slightly cloudy which wasn't a concern as Oregonians still do fun things in the rain.  As they say, you can tell who is not local by the people that carry umbrellas. Bear had arrived home early from the Gulf of Mexico so this was a great date event.  Our wonderful friend Roberta joined us as she originally was my date and was willing to have Bear take back that role.  Nate greeted us and poured a 2010 Phantasi Roussane which took us to the gates of heaven.

The table was set up in front of the vines and our chairs were hay bales. Lights were twinkling in the trees and a violinist and guitarist were playing great music.

Tables in the vineyards and hay bales for chairs.

Our musical entertainment for the evening.

Antica Terra Pinot Noir - 2006, 2008, 2010

Fresh Mozzarella

My creative shot, pre-wine.

We met a wonderful couple, Gannt and Alison.  Gannt is an Assistant Professor at University of Oregon teaching German and Scandinavian folklore, narratology, fairy tales and Iclandic Saga.  How cool is that!  Alison is a masseuse, AG Massage in Portland, Oregon and I am going to treat myself one day to her magic fingers.

Gannt and Alison

Dinner was German brats and sausages, heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. 

Grilling the goodies.

My plate of yumminess

Heirloom tomatoes from Gathering Together farm.

While we were eating our delicious brats, Nate and Maggie poured our wines.  We had 2006, 2008 and 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  Okay 2006 blew our mind.  Of course you cannot buy these wines as there are no more.  We savored every single drop.  2008 and 2010 were wonderful.  Smooth, silky and fruit forward. (<-- that one was for Mitchell).

Yes please.

Nate

Maggie - winemaker extraordinaire

 Maggie had organized a Pinata for the little ones and while we ate our wonderful dessert, which I don't have a picture of, we watched the children destroy the beach ball.

Even the kids got to have fun.

After dessert Nate took a few of us for a walk in the vineyard.  It was the perfect end to an incredible evening.

Antica Terra

Nate explaining about the soil.

Grapes getting plumpy. (Nubian wine terms)

Pommard grapes.

Perfect.

I now understand why there are so many Antica Terra groupies on Twitter. Their wine is mind blowing. Choirs of angels singing. You want to break out into a rendition of 'The Circle of Life' song from the Lion King and hold your glass up high. That good.

A few days later I received a hand written note thanking us for attending their event.

My Mother would approve.

Yesterday...

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... I signed up for Watercolor classes.

I have never drawn or painted so this is so far out of my box I need a tether to stay connected.

Wish me luck.