It was a hot and spicy time at our July 19 wine class! Too bad many of our regulars weren’t able to make it. We found notes of lychee and sweet cloves in a 2004 Fahn Gewurztraminer Appellation Alsace Controlee and allspice in a 2005 Hook & Ladder Gewurztraminer from the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County. True to form, the 2005 Domaine Barou Syrah from Cotes du Rhones hit us over the head with black pepper, while the 2004 Joseph River Estate Shiraz from Western Australia showed some black pepper as well as cumin and maybe some other sweet spices. And to add to the enjoyment, Chef Kyle prepared a host of spicy treats for dinner. By the time we lightened things up with the floral scents of the 2004 Borgo Reale Moscato D’Asti for dessert (only 5.5% alcohol, a good indication of sweet, sweet, sweet), I must say, we were having a little trouble pronouncing gewürztraminer! And since we didn’t have our full complement of tasters, we decided we would need to do this tasting again. This time, I really will plan to bring samples of spices to use for comparison.

So for the September 20 class, we’ll again concentrate on the rest of Chapter 3 of Andrea Immer Robinson’s Great Wines Made Simple (pages 64 through 78) and taste for spice and floral. I’ll also bring photos of the winery in La Rioja, with a Frank Gehry designed hotel attached to it, that Jim and I visited in Spain. On that tour, as well as tours of two other wine museums, we learned a lot about the concepts discussed on pages 71 through 78. So we’ll be able to discuss those things as well. You may need to bring your dictionaries though, because we took all the tours in Spanish.

We’ll get started with the tasting at about 7:00 p.m. or as soon as the usual crowd arrives. We all usually stay for dinner and have a little more wine, of course.

It’s never too late to join the fun (and we do have fun, especially after tasting and retasting four wines!). Classes are $10 per person per class – a real bargain considering the amount of wine you get to drink.

Hope to see you on September 20!

Suzy Marquard