After some deliberation I have decided that our first foray in to the world of collective online drinking will be via wine; more specifically, red wine. I was going to suggest that we choose a varietal and a region and go from there and I was going to crowdsource the decision, but guess what... that takes way too much time/energy and therefore I'm just going to pick.
For the first round of the Hubski Beer, Wine and Whiskey club we are going to choose a varietal but not a region. This is going to be a pretty general and wide open tasting. The varietal I choose is Pinot Noir. For those of you on the west coast (US) you should have some wonderful options near you. There are some fantastic Pinot's from the Carnero's and Willamette Valley regions and indeed all over the world. -My apologies to the french for pointing out US Pinot's but I think we have more people from the US here. That said, check out wines from Burgundy, which is where the grape originated.
I think it is acceptable to include blends of a variety of grapes so long as Pinot Noir is the predominate one. While Pinot is grown all over the world, it can be a very difficult grape to grow well. It requires a special climate; cool and damp and often you'll find it succeeds where fog is prevalent.
Prices for Pinot Noir's will range from ten to hundreds and even thousands of dollars a bottle. Because of the varietal though, you ought to be able to get a good representative bottle for less than $20, no problem at all. I had this bottle of Sean Minor Monday night and I think I paid $15 for it. -If you like bright, fruit forward wines then I would suggest trying to find this.
Things we can discuss regarding the wine's we are trying:
Body
Rim Variation
Tannins/Astringency
Bouquet
Mouthfeel
Legs
Nose ....etc....
Really, I think it will just be fun to be trying something all together. I'm going to head out to the store today and I'm going to pick out a special bottle for myself. I'll post what I get and if anyone would like to join me in the same exact bottle, that would be awesome.
I would very much like cW to join us on this one as he is a wine guy, a sommelier and is one of the most passionate people I've met about the fermented grape. -But he's not a snob about it at all. I hope to enjoy the experience, have some laughs and hopefully learn a bit.
Research in advance about the bottle you are going to drink would be a great idea.
THE FIRST EVER HUBSKI BEER, WINE AND WHISKEY CLUB WILL CONVENE THIS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16th We will commence a bit later than some might be able to in order to accommodate our west coast (US) peeps.
9:00pm EST.
Also, while I am leading the "wine" meet up, I would love if someone took the reigns for the beer/whiskey version to come. First things first though, Let's throw back some grapes!
_refugee_, mk, b_b, insomniasexx, flagamuffin, theadvancedapes, humanodon, cW, wasoxygen, zebra2, ijustcantanymore, ecib, Meriadoc, lil, cliffelam, sounds_sound, cgod, kleinbl00, elizabeth, pseydtonne, istara, steve, OftenBen, zebra2, coffeesp00ns, flagamuffin, BrainBurner, codingvagrant
Who is in?