Imbibe Wine and Spirit Merchant
So last week I was in Bakersfield, CA visiting my oldest daughter and her family. Yes, it's not the most exciting city in CA, but since my granddaughters are there, it's a must! Besides, like my daughter says, there's the Pacific Ocean, mountains, desert, and SHOPPING not too far away. Can't say that in Texas!
My last night in town Natalie took me to a wine tasting room. It's not a bar, but a a tasting room, wine storage, wine and spirits store, restaurant with music all rolled into one small place. You purchase a card for the amount you want and then go to the wine spigots and start tasting. Pretty cool. I've only done this one other time and what I like about it is you don't get too much of the wine you try. If you like it, you can get more; if you don't, just get another glass. Of course, this all comes off the card you purchased.
Here's Natalie getting her first taste at the white wines.
The first wine I tasted was a 2012 Domingo Molina Hermanos Torrontes ($13). This is probably the best white Argentinian wine produce in the Cafayate, Salta area. The rain is insufficient in the region, so the winemakers have to depend on irrigation ditches carrying water from rivers and the melting snows of the Andes Mountains to water the vines.
Loved this Hermanos Torrontes! It has aromas of a flower garden! I would buy this again!
The second wine I tasted was a 2011 Pinot Blanc ($16) from Kelseyville, CA, Santa Barbara County. This county has the right maritime desert climate to provide what this grape needs. It was very good! I would buy this again also. Although it was aged in neutral oak barrels, you can hardly detect it. Drink now!
Another wine I tried was the 2011 Pride Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay ($38) from Napa Valley. This is an elegant, well-balanced wine to enjoy now or in the next decade. Loved it!
Ok, I had to try this 2010 Mendel Malbec ($25) from Mendoza, Argentina! I must really like their wines. Guess I need to plan a winecation there! Robert Parker gives it 93 points! That's says enough for me. Aromas of plums, raisins, violets and full bodied, it is the maximum expression of this variety of grape on the land in which it was created.
Here we are enjoying our last drop of wine. This was a 2010 Ingenuity Epoch Estate ($65) wine from Templeton, CA in the Paso Robles area. It's a GSM blend, with the majority being Syrah. Now, blended wines have long been thought to be inferior wines, but nothing could be further from the truth. America has come a long way in accepting blended wines and this one would be a great one in which to begin! Don't turn up your nose at blended wines!
Enjoy!
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