So it was with a ton of excitement as we made our way up to Geyserville last Saturday for the annual CRU Blending Party. At last year's event, we won our table, but came in sixth place overall (from about 80 attendees). Now, I don't know about y'all, but I don't take defeat very well. In fact, I'm kind of a bad sport about it. Leaving last year's event I vowed to be back and to walk away the victor. When we found out when the event would be, I even told Grady that I was coming to win this year. Arriving in Geyserville, we were one of the first couples there and I quickly announced that I was there to win. (See, it's kind of really bad.) While I was also there to have a great time, drinking lovely wines with equally lovely people, I know myself well enough to know that if I didn't walk away with better than 6th place I would be pretty upset.
So, how'd we do?
That's right. I come to win people!
The event is a great one for people that really love wine, and like to get an understanding of the blending process and what makes a good wine or what might not make a good wine.
As we started the afternoon, we struggled with identifying exactly the type of wines we were blending with. You see, Brad likes to keep us blind so as to not be swayed by what we think our preferences are. Almost immediately we identified the wine that we wanted as our base, and from there we built on it by adding in varying percentages of the other three options. We knew one of the wines was a Zinfandel right off the bat, but we disagreed on the Mouvedre. You see, usually when I drink Mouvedre, I get a really heavy taste of violets. This one didn't have that, but Alan swore it was Mouvedre. Also, as far as I knew, Brad had never really focused on Mouvedre, so that definitely swayed my opinion. We found out later that Alan was right. We were also a bit confused about our base - we thought it was Cabernet Sauvignon for a bit, but it lacked the tannins and other flavor profiles that you usually associate with that grape. Whatever it was, we knew we really, really, really liked it. I could have drank it all night if I wasn't so hell bent on winning the competition.
While teams were blending, I was joking with another table and we were all just having a really good time. This year was made even better (for me) because we were under a tent, protected entirely from the blaring wine country sun. We also had iced tea to keep us refreshed and hydrated, and snacks to help cleanse our palates. Last year one of the problems we ran into was that we didn't really know the pace of the event so my taste buds were blown about midway through. This year we did a better job of going slow and really evaluating what we were drinking. We also got pretty scientific about it compared to some of the other tables.
source: Mercury Wine
Source: Mercury Wine
Source: Mercury Wine
Source: Mercury Wine
Source: Mercury Wine
While the teams were blending, Brad came around and tried each team's blends, giving them cryptic comments. In our case they were quite encouraging. We knew that we'd gone with the interesting one, and that it held up from start to finish. He called it a velvet monster, which I was happy to hear since I had been describing it as soft and plush. I failed to take a picture of what our final submission was, but I know that it was a 50% base of the green dot, with a bit of everything else thrown in for balance. We knew that we really liked our wine, but given how last year's event played out, we didn't think this would win the competition. Once people have been drinking all afternoon you need something that will smack them in the face, getting through the blown palates. This wasn't that wine, so Alan was pretty sure that we weren't going to win. He seemed okay with that, but well, you know. Not me, so much.
I labeled this one: Is This the Winning Wine?
The answer: Absolutely!
I love this dog so, so, so much. Alas, I'm so, so, so allergic to him. :-(
Source: Mercury Wine
Source: Mercury Wine
Shortly after dinner - amazing bbq, by the way! - Brad announced who the table winners were. I kind of already knew we had won our table because there were only the two of us and they had a base of Zinfandel so when it came time to pick the wines, I immediately voted for mine (err, I mean ours). They did as well, so we were fairly unanimous within minutes of getting our options. But then it came time to announce the overall winners. Last year he started with sixth place but because it was a much smaller group this time, he started with the two teams that tied for 2nd place. I was so nervous. At that point I thought we were out of it. And then he said it: our winners are Alan & Becky! I might have done a happy dance in my seat. I might have acted a bit obnoxious. I did not, however, stand up and scream "IN YOUR FACE!" to anyone. I've moved beyond that.
Source: Mercury Wine
After winning!
Source: Mercury Wine
We picked up our case of jugs, and made our way up to Cloverdale to stay at the Best Western up there. About two minutes after leaving the winery we realized that (1) it was still early, and (2) Alan wasn't drunk. So, rather than sleeping in a hotel room, we grabbed our bag in the room, checked out and drove home through San Francisco to sleep in our own bed. We listened to jazz the whole way home and had just a really lovely drive to cap off what was a really great day. Thanks Mercury, for taking care of us so, so well.
