Enophile Blog

Wow, it’s been over a month since my last post and so much has changed. For starters, my job hunt was short and i was offered a job as a software engineer at Yahoo in Sunnyvale, Ca. I moved out and started work on july 11th. I just recently moved into my new apartment in Mountain View, Ca and haven’t had much time to enjoy any wine yet. I don’t even have any furnature yet - or internet access for my computer, i’m curently typing this on my smartphone!

Beth will be moving out here (finally) at the end of this month and then things will finally start getting back to ‘normal’. I’m sensing a trip to Sonoma in the very near future…

Well, here it is. all you could ever want to know about the tapas party in May - or at least what I can remember of it. I’ve been meaning to write this for ever now and of course, the longer I waited, the less I remembered. Since none of use had tasted any of the wines before [except of course the Naia - one of my favorites], and many people at the party had not experienced much wine at all, my dad setup some ground rules right at the beginning:

1. There are no rules
2. When in doubt, refer to rule 1

Since this was a tapas party, we went strictly Spanish. The tapas ranged from delicious to disgusting, and fortunately for us the wines were all quaffable. The first thing you should probably know about spanish wines is that like all major wine producing coutnries, the landscape is broken up in different regions - in Spain this is called the Denominacion de Origen, or simply the DDO or DO. The strongest producing regions in past decades has been Rioja for reds, Rueda for the whites, and Penedés for both reds and whites. Most of the wines we tasted came from Rioja and Penedés. Here’s a little fact that you can store away in your head and pull out at parties to sound like an expert: Spain cultivates more acres in europe than any other region.

I think i’ll go ahead and get crackin on the wines, starting with the reds. I’ll just go the order I happened to write them down, outlining the ones that I really liked - although I suggest *any* of these wines.

Wine : Cosme Palacio y Hermanos Cosecha Producer : Bodegas Palacio DDO : Rioja Vintage : 2001 Price : $15 Notes : Elegant, fruity, smooth, very aromatic

Wine : Finca Sobreño Crianza Producer : Finca Sobreño DDO : Toro Vintage : 2000 Price : $20 Notes : Berry, Spice

Wine : Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha 2003 Producer : Las Rocas de San Alejandro DDO : Calatayud Vintage : 2003 Price : $10 Notes : delicious,

Wine : Marques de Arienzo Reserva Producer : Marques de Arienzo DDO : Rioja Vintage : 1998 Price : $16 Notes : Elagant, fruity, well balanced, one of my favorites of the evening

Wine : Vina Alarba 2001 Producer : Pago San Miguel DDO : Catalayud Vintage : 2001 Price : $17 Notes : grenache

Wine : Crianza Family Reserve Non-Vintage [2001] Producer : Palacio de Sada DDO : Navarra? Vintage : Non-Vintage [2001] Price : ? Notes : sorry, no notes. not to say it’s not a notable wine, I just didn’t write notes down for it.

Wine : Seis de Azul y Garanza 2002 Producer : Jorge Ordoñez DDO : Navarra Vintage : 2002 Price : $17 Notes : This wine is Delicious!!! Also the same producer that makes Naia - one of my all time favorite whites.

So, in case any of you were worried or wondering, the blog is not dead, I have just been extremely busy since graduation. For the last few weeks I have been searching and interviewing for jobs in the Bay Area. I had a series of interviews last week, and I am expecting another series of interviews in the days to come. Hopefully sometime in the very near future some of these companies will make some offers to me. This weekend I will try to post one of the many wine reviews/stories I have waiting in the wings.

until then…