On Saturday May 16th Chapter members with guests in tow convened in Livermore for our annual wine tasting activity. This year we had a special twist to the event. We were “trained” as wine blenders!
It was a beautiful spring day and almost a little too hot in Livermore. But that made our foray into the thick stucco winery of Tenuta Vineyards even more welcoming.
The coolness of the tasting room was refreshing. The warmth of the pourers was engaging. We hung out awhile sipping and chatting while we waited for everyone to show.
Tenuta is a very friendly winery, with art on the walls, tables to sit at--in and outside--even a sofa “U” for more intimate gatherings.
When we left the tasting room, we ambled through the production area of the winery. It’s a very compact operation for the third largest producer in the Livermore Valley. On the day of our tasting the wine making operation was quiet. The crush is months away in the fall, of course. Just weeks ago, when I was at Tenuta making arrangements for the event, the operations floor was heavily occupied by a bottling project. It looked to me like three or four families were collaborating on the process of fill, cork and label. There were even small kids involved. They were having a blast.
Our tour guide and host, Rich, showed us around the operations floor, sprinkling wine facts and Livermore history throughout the tour; and eventually we made our way into the cellar. Now we were really in a cool spot. And it was chilly too.
The first thing we did to prepare for our blending routine was to blind taste three wines. Most of us were chagrinned to find we did not recognize these varietals by taste alone. But we did have fun trying.
Next we divided up into three teams of six each, and we named ourselves respectively, SLA Primo Vino, Vino Ragazze, and the Wine Devils. All teams were given a bottle each of Syrah, Cabernet and .Merlot. We had our pipettes, blending flasks and spit buckets at a separate table for each of the teams. And we were off!
It wasn’t really a race, of course. It took us a good while of trial and error blending to come to consensus on a top selection. Each member of each team was given an opportunity to try a blend. Each member of each team tasted and voted on each blend via the “all in favor” method.
I know that sounds like a lot of wine tasting. But we were regaled with many delicious noshes throughout the blending project--savory and sweet, fruits, nuts, sausage, cheese and spreads.
At least an hour and a half later Rich told each team to bottle its chosen blend and had us re-convene in the sofa “U”. We handed off our bottled blend as we proceeded out of the cellar. While our group spent the next 20 minutes or so gabbing and laughing, Rich set up a blind tasting of all three winning blends. We were in for a final competition.
We had our final taste-off in the “U” and each participant jotted down their favorite blend onto a piece of paper. The ballot check was dramatic. The count was almost a tie for two of the blends. But the Wine Devils prevailed in the end! Participants were offered the chance to buy a bottle of the winning blend to take home. Ten bottles of Wine Devil delight went home with happy blenders that day.
While Rich was blending and bottling the home-bound blends, dessert arrived. Most of us hung around for awhile for the last sweet nosh and to drink plenty of water. Slowly participants started drifting back to their cars for the road home. It was hard to leave the site of such a fine team building event and the chance to play wine maker for a day.
Leslie Fisher
Leslie.Fisher@gilead.com
photos from the event:
