Past list view

The Taste of Greenwood Village is a huge tasting this group has been attending since the event's inception. In fact back in the beginning they used our members as volunteers to pour wine. (They don't do that now--they use reps.) Now this event has evolved into one of the best events of the year. The event should be hosted by Wine Source again, a very good wine distributor in Denver. Wine Source was a small company just a decade ago, but now has an impressive collection of wine from all over the world.

OUR GROUP RECEIVES A DISCOUNT

http://www.TasteOfGreenwoodVillage.com/group.html

Please use the password: grape

This event will feature hundreds of different wines and lots of food. The event is $35, but we get EARLY tickets sales of $30. The tickets are $50 at the door, so purchase your tickets early from this link, with the password, grape.

The event runs from 5pm - 9pm at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center.

Hyatt Regency Tech Center
7800 E Tufts Ave
Denver CO 80237

303-779-1234

See you then!
Brenda

Celebrate the wines of New Zealand with
CLOUDY BAY VINEYARDS
Pure bracing flavors from Marlborough, New Zealand’s benchmark producer

Join us as we celebrate the wines of New Zealand. This is a truly special, not-to-be missed event featuring wines from Cloudy Bay Vineyards. Cloudy Bay, located in New Zealand’s Marlborough region, will feature 4 of their unique and bold wines. The Wine Maker will be present to talk about the wines, the region and the
history of Cloudy Bay. Brian Dorsey, the talented Executive Chef for Rialto Café, has created a tasting menu that is sure to please any palate.

Only $25, you won’t find a better deal or a better place. The Winery - Innovation, meticulous attention to detail and regional expression, are the guiding principles of Cloudy Bay. Headed since inception by chief winemaker Kevin Judd, the Cloudy Bay team is committed to producing ‘wines of region’ and strives to enhance the pure, bracing flavors and stunning vibrancy, naturally afforded by the climate and soils of Marlborough.

Rialto Café Thursday, September 24th, 2009
934 16th Street 5:00pm – 7:00pm
303-893-CAFÉ (2233)
$25 (not including tax or gratuity). Call Chad Hacker at 303-260-4771 or e-mail
cmhacker@rialtocafe.com to make reservations.

###
Tasting menu

Zesty Crab Roll
Alaskan crab, shaved daikon, cucumber, Nori and citrus zest

Infused Watermelon
Banyuls wine vinegar, mint chiffonade, Hamachi

Pistachio Flan
Mango and pineapple infused, crushed pistachio, local honey

Twice Cooked Duck
Confit and smoked, marmalade, parmesan tuile

Featured Wines

Chardonnay
Tasting Notes: The scent of white flowers and fresh citrus
fruits – lemons, limes and grapefruit – all temptingly mingled
with the savory complexity of toasted nuts.

Sauvignon Blanc
Tasting Notes: Scented and summery, deliciously vibrant
aromatics that infuse the tropical fragrance of fresh passion fruit
and juicy pineapples with garden-fresh basil and crushed tomato
leaves.

Te Koko
Tasting Notes: An exotic mix of mango and pineapple infused
with herbal notes of thyme and sage fades to traces of fresh
ginger and smoky oak.

Pinot Noir
Tasting Notes: An enticing fragrance of dusky dark fruits –
black cherries, plums and berries with earthy aromas

11031 E. Fair Circle, Greenwood Village, CO 303 741-2711

Spanish wine is always a great category to explore. Spain is known for its red wines, but this region produces wonderful sparkling wines, white, rose, and fortified wines. We will explore Spain at Barb's house on this warm August evening. I will send the address the day before the event, after the 24 hour reminder is sent.

Cava is the official sparkling wine of Spain. Most Cava is made from macabeo, parellada, and xarel-lo, but some include some chardonnay. Cava is the official appellation. The Spanish used to call their sparkling wine Champagne (and many of you know, this is a no-no), so the European Union finally put enough pressure on them to cause them change the name. Cava is an old Catalan word for cave. Most Cava is aged in limestone caves in the Penedes region. If you bring Cava, please make sure it is chilled. Remember, sparkling wine is always a hit at these events.

There are many examples of rose coming from Spain. Rioja produces some savory versions and the rest of the country is beginning to produce these pink gems as well. Of course Americans still turn their now up at rose, but Europeans drink more pink wine in the summer than white. If you bring a rose, please make sure it is chilled.

Spain has many wonderful white wines. Verdejo from Rueda is a very popular white. Albarino is another white variety as well. You can also find versions of macabeo, parellada, and xarel-lo as still wines.

Dessert and fortified wines from Spain are plentiful. Sherry is a very famous and historic fortified wine. Some Sherries can be very dry and not very fruity, trading fruity flavors for floral tones, in particular chamomile. Sherries are wonderful with nuts, olives, fish, and seafood. Pedro Ximenez is a wonderful dessert wine. The grape is named after the German pilgram who brought the vines to Spain, Peter Simons. Pedro rocks on vanilla ice cream.

Spain offers myiad red wines. From Rioja to Ribera del Duero, from Priorat to La Mancha, Spain is a large red wine producer. Tempranillo is the moniker grape, but garnacha is second in production. Garnacha is always a great wine to explore. I also really like monastrell (a.k.a. mourvedre).

Spain has more real estate than any other country under vine. However, Spain is only fourth in wine production globally. Spain loves her old grape vines and chooses to cultivate these sluggish producers, rather than pull them up for younger more vigorous vines.

Don't be intimidated by the lack of grape name on the label. Also, you will notice when you do find the grape name that it is not mainstream. Embrace Spanish grapes and look for those producers who use French varieties sparingly (this means merlot, syrah, cabernet sauvignon). Spanish grapes are not as familiar to us, but that is not because they are not worthy of our attention. Spain has been a powerhouse of quality for only about twenty years, so their wines are very new to us. Previously they produced oxidized wines, which were not desirable in our market. Now savvy Spanish producers embrace our lust for fruity wines and they deliver.

Please bring a wine glass, bottle of Spanish wine to share, and a pot luck dish.

This is an annual event for us. The cost is very inexpensive. I will let you know when tickets are available. The Western Welcome Week office and County Line Liquors has them at a $5 discount each year. The event is held at the Littleton Center Courtyard -- City of Littleton.

This event runs from 5:30 until 9:00pm, so folks can come later if they like. Keep in mind, a lot of the food and booze is gone as it gets closer to 9:00pm.

------------------------------------------------------------

Make Sure to Buy Your Tickets in Advance at County Line Liquors! They will be selling tickets just prior to the event if you want the discount.

This was a fun to attend last year....for those of you who work and live in the South part of Denver....try food from Littleton restaurants and wines from local distributors. It's well worth more than $20.00

8th Taste of WWW & Silent Auction
Thursday, August 06, 2009 5:30 pm

Featuring local restaurants and a variety of wines and beer - must be 21+ years old.

Location Littleton Center Courtyard City of Littleton Address 2255 W. Berry Ave, Littleton
Cost $20 in Advance $25 at the event
Sponsor(s) Presented by Burt Toyota; Major Sponsors: Bellco Credit Union, Bud Select, County Line Liquor, Littleton Sertoma, City of Littleton
Contact WWW office
Email ltnwww@aol.com
Phone 303-794-4870
http://www.westernwelcomeweek.org/events/detail.asp?ID=3

Pre-Sale Tickets available at
-the WWW office 5890 S. Bemis St.
-County Line Liquors 181 W. County Line Rd (County Line and Broadway)
Note: If you are traveling from downtown, plan on leaving by 4:30 so you arrive on time and can enjoy the event. The earlier you get there, the more you'll get to enjoy before it does get more crowded and there are lines for certain restaurants.

This tasting will be in Littleton. Quincy and Simms area. Since Joan, our hostess wants to learn about Italian wines, we are doing a portfolio tasting. Finding wines imported by Winebow will be very easy. I would venture a guess that Winebow represents about 20% of the Italian wines in Colorado (called a portfolio or book in industry jargon).

Winebow is the largest collection, i.e., portfolio in the United States of Italian wine. It is very easy to find these wines since they are so well represented in Colorado. To find the importer name, you turn the bottle around and their name is always on the back of the label. (It is required by law.) The name is Winebow or Leonardo Locasio--or both.

I have told shoppers for years to explore importer portfolios. Smart importers create a collection with a particular palate in mind. Many focus on us and the American market. Leonardo Locasio is a very savvy business man and his portfolio is a fine snapshot of Italy. His portfolio spans the north of Italy from the Alps, to the warm southern provinces making up the heal and toe of the penisula, to the unique Islands to the west, Sicily and Sardenia.

All wine brought to this tasting must be from the Winebow portfolio. It is easy to find these wines, just go to the Italian section and turn a few bottles around and look for his monikers. Don't forget white, rose, and sparkling wine too!

Please bring a wine glass, bottle of wine from WINEBOW's Italian portfolio, and a potluck dish to share.

=> VERY IMPORTANT: I want everyone to post what wine they are bringing! We have had two recent events where overwhelmingly, everyone brought a similar wine. I am hoping if we post what we are bringing, others will take note and find something different.

=> VERY IMPORTANT: Here is what you need to do. Sometimes it is difficult to know what the region is or what the producer's name is. Don't sweat it. Do your best. Italy is notorious for featuring the region in large letters, yet the producer name is less than obvious, sometimes tiny. Just add as much from the label as you think is important to your RSVP. You do NOT have to add all the details from the label, just look for the region, vintage and producer and anything else you think might be important. Please do not let this deter you. If you can't figure it out, email me.

This will be a smaller tasting, which is why I think a study of Italy from Leonardo's collection will be very valuable. This guy has been importing Italian wine for a few decades and is very savvy about what we like to drink.

States in Italy are:

Abruzzo
Aosta Valley
Apulia
Basilicata
Calabria
Campania
Emilia-Romagna
Friuli-Venezia
Lazio
Liguria
Lombardy
Marche
Molise
Piedmont
Sardinia
Sicily
Tuscany
Trentino-Alto Adige
Umbria
Veneto

Each state has its own culture and many are the remnants of ancient (and not so ancient) kingdoms. A state will always be listed on a bottle from Italy. There is no top level appellation called Italy, so each wine must use a state name (or a regional name within the state).

Check out this map and take note of the geography. The heal and toe are hot and drier, with a Mediterreanean climate. The northern states, which skirt the Alps, are cooler with their Continental climate. The grapes changes as much as the cultures and climates. Italy professes to have thousands of different grapes, but has only been able to catalog a few hundred (a few hundred!).

You will find that Winebow has producers in most provinces. Some states are represented by several producers. Don't worry about finding a specific Winebow wine, unless you really have your heart set on something. There are plenty in the Denver market to choose from. Winebow is the best panorama of Italian wines available.

Here is a list of their current Italian producers:
(The asterisks are producers I know I have tasted from this list and are in the Denver market (probably). Many without an asterisk are here too.) This list represents hundreds of different wines.

*Allegrini
*Altesino
*Argiolas
Bisceglia
*Botromagno
Bruno Giacosa
*Castellare
*Castello di Bossi
*Coppo
Corte Giara
*Di Majo Norante
*Falesco
Fanti
Fortediga
Franz Haas
*Galardi
*Giuseppe Cortese
*Kris
*La Carraia
Leone de Castris
Librandi
Livernano
*Maculan
*Mastroberardino
Monastero
Montevetrano
Monti
*Morgante
*Palladio
*Poggio al Tesoro
Poggio Scalette
Poggiotondo
Pratesi
*Princic
Prunotto
Roberto Voerzio
Salicutti
San Polo
San Quirico
Sansonina
Sportoletti
*Stella
*Tasca d'Almerita
Tassi
*Taurino
Terre
Terre di Talamo
*Tiefenbrunner
Tramin
Tua Rita
Valdipiatta
*Valle Reale
*Zardetto
Zèfiro
*Zenato