Good Morning!

I am packing for my trip to Chile. I am heading to Chile to work an apprenticeship for Lapostolle wines during this year’s harvest. I am super pumped up. I will blog the entire time during the trip and will post pictures and videos, as often as possible.

I won this apprenticeship through Lapostolle and it is called Uncork Your Passion. I can not wait to see the country and learn everything I can about the culture and people and of course the wine. One of the fun things about this trip is I have made a real effort to learn Spanish. Learning a new language is tricky for me. I feel like I have had some sort of mud put in my brain and now it works very slowly. I have to think about everything I say and how I think while putting together a string of words that will make sense.

I do not hear out of one ear, so what I think I hear sometimes is not at all what was really being said. I have attended classes for 10 weeks and have many one on one tutoring sessions with my teacher and she says I read, write and comprehend Spanish at a very high level but I am hesitant to speak the language. So she forces me to speak to her constantly. I always feel silly.

After our last session she said next week bring me a list of the questions you will want to be able to ask when you are there. Here is my list:

Hello, what is your name?

My name is_.

It’s nice to meet you.

How can I help?

Where is the bathroom?

Thank you!

I do not understand.

I understand what you are saying, but I have no idea how to respond.

I speak very little Spanish.

How are you?

I don’t know.

Can you help me find_?

When do we get to drink wine?

These were the basic questions…then I had my more advanced questions:

I have never been here before, please show me everything.

I make wine at home.

I am thirsty and hungry.

How did the earthquake affect your business?

I make wine at home.

How do you do this?

Cheers.

I love it here.

I am learning so much.

You get where all this is going. My teacher wants me to learn formal Spanish and not just go on the computer and look up videos and memorize everything. She pelts me with the correct ways to say he, she, them, they and using the proper endings and pronunciations. I get it, I get it…but at some point I will be somewhere and all I want to say is wine please…or vino por favor!

I hope you have a great day, tonight I will enjoy more Chilean wines to get me in the mood and hopefully finish packing.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

Today after sifting through 780 tasting notes from last year and filling out my brackets and working through the elimination process, I have my champion!

There are so many great wines out there and I only entered the wines that I tried, so if you see wines missing you think should be on the entire list of 64 wines…I probably did not try that wine last year…feel free to read the blogs from the last 2 weeks to see all the regions and brackets.

I copied this process from how I fill out my brackets in College Basketball…I used my NCAA March Madness brackets and after all the eliminations the final two wines were:

Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
VS.
Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007

And this year’s winner by a last minute buzzer beater is

Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

This wine’s cost at my local wine shop is $54.99. I love this wine so much that I bought a case and will plan on buying cases of it each year. This wine is velvet to my mouth.

I also bought a case of Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard wine also. Merry produces Pinot Noirs from many vineyards and she also has estate grown Pinots that knock your socks off. I find Merry’s wines on great wine lists all over the place (Her Pinot and grilled lamb, might be one of my favorite pairings ever). This wine is like silk in my mouth. Merry’s wines can be ordered from her website. She also makes a very special Sauvignon Blanc too.

I will go back to my regular blogging until next year, but I have learned so much about my tastes and wines that I will create brackets for my wines again. I leave Sunday for Chile and to work the Harvest for Lapostolle wines and will be posting pictures, stories and maybe some videos for you to enjoy.

Have a great day!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

I watched so much basketball over the weekend, both men’s and women’s hoops. I love all live sports because you just never know for sure the outcome. It is exciting to see what happens. It is such a human thing to be a great team but for some reason the shots will not fall or the ref’s make a bad call. Or sometimes a lesser team figures out a way to contain your best player and the rest of the team fails to produce.

I love the teams who are unexpected to win, make it further than anyone (except the alumni) thought they could go. In the men’s bracket this year the final four are Butler, VCU, UConn and Kentucky. 3 of the top seeded teams were gone before any armchair expert would have imagined. The women’s bracket is not quite down to the final four yet, but less “Cinderella” teams seem to make it into the finals of the women’s games. I do remember, a few years back, Ball State (my alma mater) upset Tennessee in an early round and it shocked everyone.

Why am I discussing the teams and the powerhouses of college basketball, when you want to know how my Final four in wine compared and who I picked as my personal champion? I figured something out about my wines and these teams during this time of year. They all have heart and a great story behind them. They are better because of something extra. These four wines, I had during special circumstances, with friends or at events that might have heightened my awareness. This might have created an edge over other wines because of my emotional connection to them. Let me explain.

Here are my final four wines:

Region 1 “World around Reds, with a few California Reds too”

Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
I tried this wine in Austin, TX at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, New Year’s Eve. It was for a friends’ birthday and there were 5 of my closest friends with me and the evening was starting off with friends from Indianapolis flying in to meet us for the weekend. I remember the first time I breathed in this wine, the aromas, the mouth feel and even what I was wearing….so you can see I have a big emotional attachment to this awesome wine.

Region 2 “Wonderful Pinots, a few Chards and Sauvignon Blancs”

Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007
Last summer I was so fortunate to meet and introduce Merry Edwards, the winemaker, in Napa, CA at the Women for Winesense event, celebrating 25 years in educating women in wine. She might be the most humble, lovely soul I have ever met and some day I hope to make a Pinot Noir that will be half as good as her wine and I will feel very successful. I have had Merry’s wines many times before but never her Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir, it rocked my world…so you can see why I love this wine.

Region 3 “The White Region”

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998
This big bubble machine surprised me for a number of reasons. The millions and millions of pin point bubbles just never stopped! I also enjoyed this wine on New Year’s eve in Austin, TX. We had it as our dessert and it was perfect. It is light and refreshing with also being huge, rich, creamy and round…I have no words from how it can be two things at the same time, but it was and is one of the wines that had a great impact on a fantastic evening.

Region 4 “Big Ass Reds”

Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005
I had this wine while I was traveling this past year in Washington DC. I was there to visit wineries in Virginia and visit my friend Jon who lives and at one point worked for our President. I had never been to DC and it also happened to be my birthday week too. I visited dozens of museums and the pure patriotic feel of our nation’s capital might have heightened my senses, it might have made the wine bigger and who knows, but I remember that wine and the beautiful balance I felt and all the smoothness I enjoyed for hours from this great California wine. The evening and the wine was “spot on”.

Since I have tried all these wines I have bought cases of all but one…I need to save a few more pennies before I can splurge on the last case.

OK enough suspense my wines moving into the final tasting will be

Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
VS.
Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007

Tomorrow I will unveil the winner and give you my prediction for the final teams in the actually NCAA Basketball tournament!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

This all started out, with me tasting 780 wines over the past year and after assembling my 64 top picks, I made 4 brackets and in honor of my favorite sports time of the year NCAA March Madness of college basketball. Everyday, I have continued to eliminate wines and today we have 16 wines left in the competition but by the time you have read this entire blog you will have my Final Four.
The * after a wine means it was eliminated.

Region 1 “World around Reds, with a few California Reds too”

1. Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

7. Concha y Toro Terrunyo Vineyard Selection Block 34 Syrah 2007 *

12. Lapostolle Casa Cabernet Sauvignon Alpato 2006 *

13. Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon 1994

Leaving the last two wines in Region 1

Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (First wine to move into the final four).

Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 *

Region 2 “Wonderful Pinots, a few Chards and Sauvignon Blancs”

1. Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007

5. Rochioli Russian River Pinot Noir 2006 *

12. Peter Mitchell Sonoma County Mon Plaisir Chardonnay 2008 *

15. Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2008

Leaving the final two wines in Region 2

Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2008 *

Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007 (Second wine to move into the final four)

Region 3 “The White Region”

1. Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998

7. J Vineyards Cuvee 20 Russian River NV Sparkling *

9. Passaggio Wines California Unoaked Chardonnay 2007

14. Ceago Vinearden Kathleen’s Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2006 *

Leaving the final two wines in Region 3

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998 (Third wine to move into the final four)

Passaggio Wines California Unoaked Chardonnay 2007 *

Region 4 “Big Ass Reds”

1. Sine Qua Non Sta. Rita Hills The Naked Truth Grenache

5. Modus Operandi Antithesis Red Wine 2007 *

10. Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005

14. Finca Allendre Roija Aurus 2006 *

Leaving the final two wines of Region 4

Sine Qua Non Sta. Rita Hills The Naked Truth Grenache *

Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005 (Fourth wine to move into the final four)

I have learned a ton about my palette while doing this and there are some big surprises to me. The 4 biggest surprises have been:

1. I still have not really fallen in love with french wines the way I thought I would.

2. I tasted and LOVED dozens of Rose’ wines, but none made it in the final 64.

3. I still find my taste buds love the Big Reds from California.

4. I am thrilled how much I tried and loved wines from Chile and Argentina.

On Monday, You will see which wine I found to be the “Champion”. If you get a chance to pick up and try any of these final four wines up while watching the real March Madness…Go for it!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

I am excited to breakdown the last 16 wines who made my personal March Madness of Wines! The region is all about the big, bold reds that rocked my world!

To remind you here is the full list of region 4. The wines with the * after it has been eliminated and I will move the winners on into the next bracket and then you will see the final four that remaining wines and then we will move on to my Final Four wines next week!

1. Sine Qua Non Sta. Rita Hills The Naked Truth Grenache
2. Paso Creek Merlot 2005 *
3. Gridley Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 2005
4. Poggio II Castellare Brunello di Montalcino 2005 *
5. Modus Operandi Antithesis Red Wine 2007
6. Abeja Columbia Valley Merlot 2007 *
7. Vina Montes Purple Angel Colchagia Valley Carmenre 2007
8. Rustom Jee Barossa Valley Sandbox Shiraz 2006 *
9. Bodegas Atamisque Uco Valley Malbec 2007 *
10. Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005
11. Alpha Omega Proprietary Red Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
12. Mollydooker The Boxwe Shiraz 2009 *
13. Olivier Hallaire Chateauneuf du Pape 2008 *
14. Finca Allendre Rioja Aurus 2006
15. Bodegas Tahuan Argentina Siesta Malbec 2007 *
16. Ehlers Estate St Helena Merlot 2007

Here are the final 8 left in region 4, the wines with the * after them were eliminated.

1. Sine Qua Non Sta. Rita Hills The Naked Truth Grenache

3. Gridley Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 2005 *

5. Modus Operandi Antithesis Red Wine 2007

7. Vina Montes Purple Angel Colchagia Valley Carmenre 2007 *

10. Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005

11. Alpha Omega Proprietary Red Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 *

14. Finca Allendre Rioja Aurus 2006

16. Ehlers Estate St Helena Merlot 2007 *

So the final four wines moving into the overall Wine Tournament are:

1. Sine Qua Non Sta. Rita Hills The Naked Truth Grenache

5. Modus Operandi Antithesis Red Wine 2007

10. Joseph Phelps California Insignia 2005

14. Finca Allendre Roija Aurus 2006

Starting tomorrow I will assemble the “Sweet 16” of the Wine Brackets I made in honor of the NCAA Basketball tourney!

Have an awesome day!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi