115 - Whirlwind Week

Yep, this week's been flying by. We're trying to get ready (myself, my wife and a friend John who we're hosting the party with) and make plans for a wine tasting for our wine tasting club for October. We're trying to make the theme Oktoberfest of course, so last night the three of us went to a large wine store to get some ideas. We had already pretty much decided on German Red Wines, something that's pretty rare as most German wines are Whites.

We ended up buying 3 bottles of wine, and one bottle of a special German beer to try (more on that later). Two of the three wines were from Turning Leaf, and both were Pinit Noir's, though one of them was from the Baden region, and one from the Pfalz region and were 2006 Appellations. We wanted to try to see if we could notice the difference in the two.

Upon trying both, side by side, we were positively able to tell the difference. Keep in mind that the Baden and Pfalz regions of Germany are very close together, but the combination of soil, wind, sun, rain and vines make a big difference. The Baden was lighter, fruitier and almost weak to the taste while the Pfalz was heartier, more peppery and had longer legs than it's predecessor. All in all, a great thing to test our wine club's palates on!

The third wine was a Pinot Noir Rose (something I'd never heard of) from Germany, and it was quite honestly, horrible. I couldn't even finish the two ounces I poured myself. That was ruled out for the tasting right away.

The beer we bought was a dark, German "Rauchbier", or SmokeBeer. Now, I've had my share of weird and wacky beers in my life, but this takes the cake. Taking the first sip tasted like I had smoked a cigarette! *LOL* This wasn't the weird part yet though... upon second, and third tastes.. it actually was GOOD! Here's a link to their webpage.. it's really quite interesting. I think we'll get a couple of bottles of this just to surprise some people!

Well, I"m running late so I'll say have a wonderful Hump-Day.. and we'll see you Friday!