Good Morning!

I am really thrilled with how many of you are lovin’ my blog and how it is related to the March Madness NCAA Basketball tournament. Thanks for all the emails and twitter follows! I love you all and as I learn about wine, I will share my knowledge with you!

Ok, So today is day 3 and I will share with you my 3rd “region” of the bracket for my Wine March Madness. I have nicknamed this bracket the White bracket, thou I have whites in the 2nd region, this region has only whites and champagnes/sparklings.

1. Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998
2. Chateau Ste. Michelle Horse Heaven Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2008
3. Ramey Hyde Barrel Chardonnay 2007
4. Flora Springs Barrel Fermented Napa Valley Chardonnay 2009
5. Roederer Estate NV Sparkling wine
6. Paulette Polish Hill River Riesling 2008
7. J Vineyards Cuvee 20 Russian River NV Sparkling
8. Chappellet Napa Valley Chardonnay 2008
9. Passaggio Wines California Unoaked Chardonnay 2007
10. Craggy Range Hawkes Bay C3 Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2008
11. Cellar Rat Wines RMV 2009
12. Pacific Rim Columbia Valley Riesling 2009
13. Henri de Lanzac Chateau de Segries Tavel 2009
14. Ceago Vinearden Kathleen’s Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2006
15. Moet & Chandon Imperial NV Champagne
16. Chimney Rock Napa Valley Fume Blanc 2005

What I learned about my tastes with this bracket is, I like young whites except for the Taittinger Champagne the bulk of these wines are just a few years since they were bottled. I also was surprised I enjoyed 2 Rieslings. I like Rieslings, but if you would have said 2 young ones would have made my March Madness bracket, I would have laughed.

I also know there are a couple of wines on this list that you will have never heard of Passaggio and Cellar Rat Wines. I personally know both these winemakers. Cindy Cosco of Passiggio is making unoaked Chardonnay and a Rose’ that will rock your world. Find her on the net and order some, you will smile from ear to ear. The other Winemaker is Ryan Sciara who is located in Kansas City and he is AWESOME too! I swear this white blend RMV Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier,(3 white grapes who got their beginnings in France) I think this is the most fabulous white wine with margarita pizza I have ever had.

There are some pretty well known names on this list, which does not surprise me because I am constantly in tasting rooms in Napa, so I get a lot of exposure to the tried and true wines. I also know that I love the bubbles and my house wine, besides TJR Select, I always have Moet & Chandon Imperial and Roederer Estate, both are NV (Non Vintage) bubbles.

Tomorrow, I will post my 4th and final region and my bracket will be filled out. Then I will start the elimination process, and you can watch to see who will move on to get to the Sweet 16, then the Elite 8, then the Final 4, then to the finals!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Best French champagne of my year!

Good Morning!

I loved the response and emails about yesterday’s picks…I guess I have many basketball fans that like this format!

Today, I will walk you through my second 16 wines.

1. Merry Edwards Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007
2. Mantanzas Creek Fume Blanc 2007
3. Dry Creek Vineyard Beeson Ranch Zinfandel 2007
4. Frog’s Leap Napa Valley Zinfandel 2008
5. Rochioli Russian River Pinot Noir 2006
6. Rex Hill Willamette Valley Pinot Gris 2009
7. Stag’s Leap Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2008
8. Lawson’s Dry Hills Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008
9. Casa de Valle Grande Escolha Vinho Verde 2008
10. Wakefield Estate Clare Valley Australia Chardonnay 2007
11. Domaine Barraud Alliance Pouilly Fuisse 2008
12. Peter Mitchell Sonoma County Mon Plaisir Chardonnay 2008
13. Marcassin Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2004
14.Kosta Brown Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2008
15. Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2008
16. Martin Ray Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc 2009

I think this region should be called my Pinot Noir and white region! What I notice is I do not try as many older wines as I thought or maybe they are not as memorable, not sure but as I am filling out each bracket, I am learning more about my palette! I also know most of these wines were suggested on different places from blogs to wine magazines and I am glad I have the ability to find and try these wines!

Tomorrow, I will roll out the next 16 wines….

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

This wine is not in the 2nd Bracket, but It is AWESOME!!!

Good Morning!

As promised, I put together My “March Madness” wine brackets! I went back over the 780 wines I tasted this past year and after review of my notes. I picked the 64 wines that would be in my personal tournament. I have broken the wines down into 4 regions and and tried to start out pairing the wines in a way that made sense or made sense in my mind.

Today, I will walk you through my first 16 wines.

1. Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
2. Arboleda, Aconcagua Chile Merlot 2005
3. Paul Hobbs Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
4. Kilikanoon, Covenant Shiraz, Clare Valley, South Australia 2005
5. M by Michael Mondovi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2006
6. Lopez Noceti, 1919 Malbec Mendoza 2005
7. Concha y Toro Terrunyo Vineyard Selection Block 34 Syrah 2007
8. Robert Mondovi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007
9. Viader Red Napa Valley 2007
10. Merryvale Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
11. Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
12. Lapostolle Casa Cabernet Sauvignon Alpato 2006
13. Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 (This was the oldest wine I loved for this list).
14. Casa Ferreirinha Reserve Especial (Douro) 2007
15. Santa Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon VSC Maipo Valley Chile 2007
16. Jarvis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2005

Ok, so I am not sure how I am going illustrate the winners and how is moving forward, but I will figure it out as this week progresses.
As I reviewed my selections, I learned a lot about my palette and my tastes. I learned that I love Cabernet Sauvignon, Sparkling/Bubbles, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnays….I really like the unoaked Chardonnays. You will see this pattern as the next few blogs are posted.

I found that I love wines from Chile, California and I seem to like Sonoma Pinot Noirs…but looking at some of these wines and I appreciate all wines. they are like flowers to me, all of them are pretty, some are tulips, roses and orchids, I am just looking and tasting for the beauty.

Tomorrow, I will roll out the next 16 wines….until then

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

In this region, this is my number 1 wine, Don Melchor Cab. AWESOMENESS!

Good Morning!

I am not sure I have ever discussed how much I LOVE Basketball. I love college basketball and the month of March is one of the most fun times of the year for me. I LOVE both Men’s and Women’s basketball. I think I love Basketball for two reasons, I was born and raised in Indiana and it is kinda like a religion in the Hoosier state and second, my uncle played pro basketball, so I remember going to watch him and that was fun.

The men’s NCAA selection committee made there selections and choose the top 64 teams that will be in the famous “Dance”. Today the women’s committee will do the same. I fill out my brackets and and jump in all the office pools and I will be glued to the tv during game time to see if I have picked the upsets or stayed true to my favorite teams.

My all time favorite teams are the Men’s Purdue Boilermakers (This is one of the college’s I studied engineering) and in the women’s basketball world I LOVE the Tennessee Lady Vols. I have been a fan since I played ball of coach Pat Summit.

There are rivalries in all sports and sometimes it seems like by the end of the season we always end up watching many of the same teams because they constantly have great winning programs. In the Men’s world, Kansas, Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA, Arizona, Texas just to name a some of the teams you will see in the Sweet 16.

In the Women’s world we will see Tennessee, UCONN, Rutgers, Stanford, Baylor, Duke, Notre Dame, etc. So I started to think about 2 things, which wines will I be enjoying during the games and if I were the selection committee and I had to pick 64 wines to go head to head which ones would I choose?

Before I could even start to make selections I would have too decide would I set up my competition by the grape (Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz etc..) or would I go by producers (Beringer, Mondavi, Concha ya Toro). There are always big contenders that are up against each other.

I decided that I would set up the 64 wines by breaking them down by grapes first and then pick the most awesome producers to represent their wines.

Then I would also consider who was the “coach” or in my world the Winemakers. You have winemakers who can take good grapes and make insanely great wine, let’s name a few like Heidi Barrett, Merry Edwards, Randall Graham, Manfred Krankl, Justin Smith, Jason Moore, Helen Turley and Dirk Hampson. Just like the great coaches in the NCAA like Geno Auriemo, Tom Izzo, and the rest of the great coaches, they build a team, choose the players, practiced them daily and they know their strengths and weaknesses, they know the equipment, they know all the rules and they know how to motivate and how to inspire the players to greatness.

So as I am counting down the minutes until tip off on Thursday, I will put together my top 64 wines and share with you!

Have a great Monday, follow this week and I will put together my wine brackets throughout the week!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

As I have been learning more and more about wine, I have learned some interesting facts about wine and thought I’d share some of them with you. Some of the facts are interesting, some are ridiculous and the next time you are at a cocktail party you can use these and feel like Cliff Claven with your wine knowledge.

Wine is mentioned 521 times in the bible.

On a Champagne or Sparkling wine bottle, the cage (wire thing holding on the cork), there is always 5 full turns of the wire loop.

Average calories in a bottle of wine is 450-600.

Average glass of wine has 110 calories.

A standard 750 ml bottle of wine has 4-5 glasses in each bottle.

4 average sized clusters of grapes will produce 1 bottle of wine.

Approximately 75 grapes in each cluster.

Most vineyards plant 400 vines per acre.

1 acre will produce around 5 tons of grapes.

5 tons of grapes will produce approx. 330 cases of wine.

There is a winery in every single state in the United States.

The smell of a young wine is called an “aroma” but a more mature wine offers a more subtle “bouquet”.

The vintage is not the year the wine was bottled, it is the year the grapes were picked.

Red wine represents 55% of all wine sales in restaurants.

Have an awesome weekend!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

My first glass of wine from #SXSW in Austin.