Yes, it’s time for another fun tasting event at Webster’s Fine Stationers in Altadena, CA. We’ll be there at 4:30 p.m. with one of our favorite St. Patrick’s Day wines – Sláinte, from Irish Family Vineyards in Vallecito, California. It’s techincally a white blend, but Russ Irish adds a little green dye for the fun of it.
But wait – there’s more. Anne will join Petrea Burchard for a lively reading of some bits of Irish literature – something Anne hasn’t done in a long time, so she’s really looking forward to it.
But wait again, there is still more! We’ll also be featuring a blind tasting of some chardonnays, where you get to figure out where they came from.
So why do blind tastings? Isn’t all that business about tasting and discerning the varietal down to the vintage and vineyard a bunch of hooey? It is, but that doesn’t mean blind tastings aren’t fun. And there’s another good reason for trying wines without knowing what you’re drinking – you can focus on the wine, itself, without the usual preconceived notions of what makes a wine good getting in the way. You know, things like the bottle’s price tag – which affects us more than we think it does – or where it’s from. After all, French wine must be better than Californian. Or Californian must be better than French wine.
Trust us, with the ever-expanding range of styles and varieties out there, it doesn’t hurt to train your palate to look for certain things, not so you can go lording it over your friends, but so you can identify what it is you like and don’t like.
Nor should you feel bad about not knowing a lot about different wines and their styles. As we found out at a recent blind tasting, sometimes knowing a lot can get you more messed up than just simply guessing.
Webster’s will be open until 8 p.m. There will be a showing of art by a local artist. And there will be wine and corned beef. And lots and lots of fun.