Wining by proxy...SF Int'l Wine Competition Double Gold winners...

Once again, I sent JD to taste in my place. This time it was the Tasting Panel magazine tour of Double Gold winner selections from the San Francisco International wine completion. Here are some highlights of that very interesting tasting:

Duplex on Third

This event was at Duplex on Third, just a little west of the Beverly Center in mid-city west, across the street from Cedars –Sinai medical center, a beautiful, fairly new restaurant converted from what had originally been an early 1900’s duplex. There was a nice cheese, fruit and bread spread provided. I overheard that they bake their own bread based on a starter the chef has had for a few years. It was quite good, alone or with the cheese.

Started with a little bubbly, always a great way to begin. 075 Carati 2011 Sparkling Ribolla Gialla, IGT, delle Venezie, Italy $19. www.pieramartellozzo.com. Toasty. Good starter.

Wining by proxy...Slovenia and Croatia...

Croatia/Slovenia

Once again, the Goddess sent her trusty First Acolyte, JD, to taste some wines in her place. After reading this account, she is sad that she wasn't able to taste these first hand!

9/11/2012 - At Lucques on Melrose - Our host, importer Vinum USA, Inc., began with some historical and geographical background. Like Italy, just across the Adriatic Sea and bordering to the north, Croatia & Slovenia have many different grapes that are special to the region, besides growing grapes from other areas and putting different names to them.

There has been grape growing and wine making in the region for centuries, but real work most likely started with Greek settlers in the fifth century BC, growing during Roman times and continuing through the Middle Ages. Production survived during the occupation by the Ottoman Turks through the Catholic Church’s need for wine in their services. Production flourished again during the Hapsburg Empire.

Wining in Lake County...Hawk and Horse Vineyards

Back in May, I received a bottle of wine from a winery with whom I was unfamiliar - Hawk and Horse Vineyards. It was a beautifully packaged bottle of 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, with lots of great information about the winery, a small, family-owned and operated ranch and vineyard estate located in the Red Hills AVA of Northern California. They incorporate both organic and biodynamic methods in their farming, and are Demeter Biodynamic and CCOF Organic certified, and their winemaker is the renowned Richard Peterson. I was excited!

I invited my fellow wineaux, Debra B., to join me for dinner so I could take advantage of her excellent palate to assist with tasting this wine, but we were dismayed to discover upon opening the bottle that the wine was damaged, probably from the brief intense heat spike that occurred during shipment.