Two Mid Week Wine Tastings

Normally I do not post about mid week wine tastings that I do but this week I had two interesting ones.

On Tuesday, October 7, Michaels on Naples had there monthly wine tasting, www.michaelsonnaples.com  and they featured Antica Wines from Napa Valley. This is part of of the Antinori family in Italy hence the name Anti for the family name and ca for California.  "Antica". There were 4 wines featured. A 2013 Rose "Fossino",100% Pinot Noir which was very good. Dry and a creamy mouth feel to it. 2012 Chardonnay. Tad oaky but not bad. Paired very well the cheeses offered. 2012 Pinot Noir. Clean, and silky Nice wine but I do prefer other Pinots and a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, Not an overly big Cab but substantial enough. The Cabernet and the Rose were my 2 favorites. Nice tasting, cheeses were good. Ordered  a "Il Piatto de Salumi Con Pane e Olive" . Otherwise Italian meats, marinated olives and grilled garlic cibatta bread. Quality as always was excellent. Weather was perfect on the rooftop.

On Friday, October 10 went to Wine Country , www.thewinecountry.com, for a Wine & Cheese pairing. They do this every year. Ten cheeses and 10 wines.  Most of the pairings were excellent. A couple missed the mark a little. I won't go through the whole list but just a few that stood out. The first pairing was a NV Maurice Vesselle Grand Cru Brut with a D'Affinois with Truffles. The bubbly was good, the cheese had a tad bit too much truffle taste for me A 2012 Domaine de Rocfontaine Saumur-Champigny with a Pilota Basque. This was a Cab Franc from Loire and very good. This to me was the best pairing and I really liked the cheese. Something I had not had before. Another very good pairing was a 2012 Ercavio Tempranillo with a Caved Aged Gruyere. Always a good event to attend. Opens you up to some new cheeses and how to pair.