There's this great place by the name of Wide World of Wine in DC that hosts several large (and free) wine tastings a couple of times a year; we're talking upwards of 75 wines, usually separated by wineries and different sellers. Most tastings are red wine heavy, naturally, with a few whites sprinkled in. You would think that, for an avid white wine drinker such as myself, this wouldn't be all that appealing. But the wines are so good and the sommeliers are so knowledgeable that I can actually make it through almost all the red wines without feeling sick.
((Backstory: I dislike red wine mostly because I've gotten sick off of it one too many times. For some reason, it was my go-to end-of-the-night drink back in college, and, well... yea.))
Scot and I have been to couple of these tastings and end up buying at least a case of wine every time; it's great because you get a discount on the wines you tasted if you buy them on the same day. Our purchases are mostly reds that Scot ends up drinking by himself, save a glass here and there when I'm in the mood. My drink of choice, aside from white wine, is champagne. Love love love champagne.. unfortunately, my purchase selection is usually a $6.59 bottle of Andre (aka cheapo sparkling wine) due to monetary concerns. But I take what I can get. (And I may have had a leeeeetle too much last night, making massaging this morning incredibly difficult. Bler.)
That being said, when I recently found out that WWW was going to be having a champagne tasting in November with over 80 different champagnes, I got giddy with excitement! I had a countdown. I reserved our spot in the tasting about 5 minutes after I got the official email.
Crazy? Maybe. I just know what I like.
My good friend A is also a big champagne drinker. She, myself, and Scot all headed over to the shop at 2:30pm, about halfway through the tasting. Could you believe some of the vendors already ran out of some of their samples? It was that crowded - none of the other tastings were nearly as busy. We did get our fair share of tastes, though.. and I purposefully ignored the pretty little dump buckets where you are supposed to dispose of the rest of the champagne after you tasted a bit of it. Ladies and gentlemen, I got a very good buzz on. As did A.
Sorry about the quality.. bad phone pic!
Despite the buzz, I was still able to learn a bit about (real) champagne and was truly able to taste the subtle differences between different blends and wineries. We even got a bottle of our favorite to keep until 2012, and pop open when we get hitched!
Anyone else share in my love for champagne? If not, what's your drink of choice?
2 comments:
I've grown partial to Martini and Rossi Asti - not sure it's classified as a champagne but that's what I drink on special occasions.
I love going to wine tastings! I can't wait for them to start up again in my area. :)
See, I can't stand wine OR champagne. I just don't like the tastes. But a lot of my friends go to wine tastings and some even make their own wine. I WISH I could drink it because the tastings sound fun. Oh well. I'll wait until they have a vodka tasting. LOL
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