The Event: Delicato Family Vineyards Vintages tasting with Tammy Brown, Regional Sales Manager for the Americas, followed by a paired wine dinner.

The Date and Time: Tuesday October 17, 2017  4:30PM - 8PM

The Event: Delicato Family Vineyards Vintages tasting with Tammy Brown, Regional Sales Manager for the Americas.

The Venue: Wine Academy, Richmond Street

The Target Audience: wine writers

The Availability/Catalogue: all wines are at Vintages or by consignment.

The Quote/Background: Tammy spoke about the company's history and development. They are now one of the top ten grape growers by hectares (1700 hA) with vineyard properties in Napa, Monterey, and Lodi, plus many grower contracts. The company has several tiers of wines ranging from the Bota Box (3L, $42.65 LCBO) to some prestigious $200 a pop wines. Today we were to taste, after the presentation, some Irony, Noble Vines, Black Stallion, Z. Alexander Brown, and Gnarly Head wines, ranging from $19.95 to $30.95.

The Wines:

 

**** BEST -- Four Stars (91+ in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Black Stallion Estate Chardonnay Napa Valley 2015 Vintages +339689 $30.95

-Noble Vines 446 Chardonnay Monterey County 2015 $19.95 Not yet at Vintages.

-Irony I Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 North Coast $24.95 Vintages +25106

 

***1/2 BETTER -- Three and a Half Stars (88 – 90 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Irony I Chardonnay Monterey County 2015 $22.06 consignment [the Napa version is available at Vintages +27409 for $24.95 retail]

-Noble Vines 667 Pinot Noir Monterey Vintages +342808 $19.95

-Z. Alexander Brown Uncaged Proprietary Red Blend 2015 North Coast Vintages +519785 $21.95 [zin, syrah, petite syrah, cab sauv]

-Gnarly Head 1924 Double Black Limited Edition 2015 California  Vintages +498881 $19.95 [zin, PS, syrah]

 

The Food: we began with a leafy salad and some julienne root veggies, paired with the Noble Vines 446 Chardonnay 2015 and/or the Irony I Chardonnay Monterey 2015 (I found the Noble Vines a better match when eating just the leaves, but when the root veggies with their sugar was on the fork, the Irony I worked better...just sayin'). This was followed by medium-done steak on mash with Brussels sprouts and bacon, paired with Irony I Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (the cab was more food friendly than the heavier red blends). For dessert, there was apple crisp a la mode paired with the richer Black Stallion Chardonnay Napa 2015. The apple was indeed crisp with a tang of acid, so it worked ok once the ice cream was out of the way.

The Downside: I had difficulty finding the entrance, which apparently was not uncommon.

The Upside:

The Contact Person: mitchell@selectwines.ca or tammy.brown@delicato.com

The Event's Marketing Effectiveness and Execution (numerical grade): 86.

 

Chimo! www.deantudor.com