When I shared my post with CLC on Facebook, it entered me into a contest to win a bottle of their 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay.
Well…
Guess who won?
A cold bucket of Chardonnay on a hot day. You can’t beat that with a bat, foo.
So…
This past Sunday, we took a trip over to the winery to enjoy this beautiful bottle of Chardonnay on their patio.
While we were there, we also hit up another class with Estate Sommelier, Roy Froom, to learn about May’s Wine of the Month…
Yeah… Cabernet Sauvignon’s got class. It’s taught by Roy Froom.
During the second half of the class, we got to enjoy two fantastic wines by Clos La Chance…
Clos La Chance 2009 Whitestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Clos La Chance 2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
We started with the Estate Cab.
Here are some facts about the wine.
And my take…
Color: Purplish red.
Nose: Blueberry and plum fruit with a hint of oak and chalk dust (You know I love chalk!).
Taste: Fruits of blackberry, dry cherries, and red currant. There is a great acidity to this one, but the tannins are a bit too astringent for me.
Score: In spite of the off tannins, if given time, I see this wine hitting it’s groove very soon. 91+
Up next…
Clos La Chance 2009 Whitestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Color: On the red side of purple.
Nose: Blueberry, lavender, and rubber balls. Yummy!
Taste: There is a great chalkiness (Yes!) and acid play to this wine. I love the herbacious finish of rosemary and menthol. Good cherry fruit and tea leaf.
Score: If you love blueberry, chalk, and tea leaf notes to your wine… You will love this… As do I. 93.
You have to know that I would totally go back to school if all the classes I took were like this one.
Thanks for the wine and the class, Clos La Chance.
Just when you thought I was done talking about the wedding we were at in Phoenix, Arizona a few weeks back…
I realized that there was a big wine moment that happened the day before the wedding…
Since Kara was a bridesmaid, and had to go to the rehearsal during the day, I spent the morning lounging around the hotel at the “Largest Pool in Phoenix!”
Yeah… I guess it was pretty big.
Come the afternoon, however, we headed over to a BBQ at the home of the groom’s parents…
The food was in full effect! Pulled pork, pulled chicken, mac n’ cheese, potato salad, and beans.
I had been looking forward to this BBQ for a while. Not so much for the food (which was fantastic, by the way), but for the wine that was gonna be served…
Now…
This requires a little explanation.
The night before the BBQ, I went out with the groom and his buddies for a bachelor party. At one point in the night, the groom asks me if I’d ever heard of Copa Di Vino.
When I told him I had not, he proceeded to tell me that the owner of the company was on the TV show, Shark Tank, pitching his idea to investors. Apparently, it’s a wine that comes in its own plastic cup. The idea is that it allows you to drink wine on the go without having to deal with the complications of a bottle.
“That sounds cool,” I told him. “How does it taste?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, “but I ordered a couple of cases for the BBQ tomorrow, and I want you to review it.”
Never one to turn down a wine sample, I was more than happy to oblige. As soon as we got to the party, I tracked down the cooler, and picked out my samples…
Copa Di Vino NV American Riesling and Copa Di Vino NV Columbia Valley Merlot.
Now…
First I want to talk to you about the packaging…
Each (Plastic) Cup of Wine is 187.5 ml. A standard bottle of wine is 750 ml. You can do the math, or just trust me when I tell you that each plastic cup is a quarter of a bottle (a pretty healthy pour).
Online, you can buy a case (12 Cups of Wine) for $36. That breaks down to $3 a cup… or $12 a bottle.
As far as the packaging goes, Copa Di Vino reminded me a lot of a cup of yogurt. Remove the plastic lid, peel back the aluminum seal, and it’s go time!
Now…
Let’s get into the wine!
Copa Di Vino NV American Riesling:
Nose: In retrospect, I should have poured my Cup of Wine into a glass. Without having much of a lip to guide the aromas to my schnoz, it was tough to analyze. The nose to me was extremely tight, with hints of lemon mineral water.
Palate: The palate lacked any sort of complexity to it. Really, it was kind of like water, with a squeeze of lemon and a drop of latte foam. I do give the Riesling props for not being sweet. I would have expected it to be overly sugarfied to appeal to the masses.
Score: Not a whole lot going on here, but I will give it extra points for being a cold white wine on a hot day in Phoenix. 76
Copa Di Vino NV Columbia Valley Merlot:
Nose: A faint hint of buttered blackberry. Aside from the blackberry, the nose is almost Chardonnay-like.
Taste: There’s that butter again. Look… I know that all red wine goes through malolactic fermentation, but usually (since there are so many other things going on) they’re not so in-your-face with the butter. There is still this blackberry fruit going on, but it’s unripe blackberry. There is a touch of black olive on the end.
Score: This isn’t a horrible Merlot, but that butter is throwing me way off. 79
I went to the Copa Di Vino website to try to get a glimpse into their winemaking philosophy, and I found this video…
I guess the product speaks for itself.
Apparently, the investors on Shark Tank passed on the Copa Di Vino. Based on the price, and the quality of the juice, you should too.
I guess that’s what you get when you spend more time dreaming up the cup you’re serving your wine in than you do the wine you’re serving in the cup.
Stay Rad 