Thursday, November 17, 2011

Downtown Delights Reveals Tasty New Wines


We recently attended the wine show put on by TREO in Sylvania in conjunction with the Downtown Delights event. There were six distributors and more than 40 wines.

Green Dragon and I were running a bit late, but started getting pumped for the event when we noticed spotlights crisscrossing the sky in Sylvania. The crowd was packed into TREO’s private dining room. In addition to the wine there were light appetizers plus cheese from Tecumseh's Boulevard Market and sweets from Little Boe Sweets.

It was quite a bargain with 40 wines from which to choose and 10 samples each for $10.
Our top picks were:

2009 Rancho Sisquoc River Red. This was a nice blend of 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 18% Pinot Noir, 13% Syrah, 10% Malbec, and 4% Sangiovese. This was a smooth yet sophisticated blend with dashes of strawberry and oak. To simplify this for me, I kept requesting the Sasquatch wine. I guess you can say it has a Bigfoot of flavor. Costs about $18.

2008 Tacchino Albarola Barbera. This is a Piedmont red from Italy made with 100% Barbera. It has a persistent blackberry fruit flavor with light oak. It has a nice balance and medium body. Soft but not wimpy. We found this to be a nice pairing for dinner afterwards. I had TREO’s outstanding lasagna, but it should also go well with red meat.

2010 Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough. Green Dragon is a Sauv Blanc fan, especially from New Zealand’s Marlborough region. This is young and fresh with plenty of citrus and some light grassy notes.

2008 Stratton Lummis Lot One “The Riddler.” This is a Napa Valley red wine made with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The full list of grapes isn’t disclosed (you crazy Riddler, you!), but I suspect Merlot is in there as well due to the smooth finish. This had a twinge of sweetness to it with a nice berry and floral flavor mix.

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