April 2008 Events

This month holds several wine events for me, three in this week alone! Here's a run down of what April holds for me:

April Fool's Day:  Two events

The first event today is a virtual wine tasting being hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame titled "Gary's April Fool Surprise."



Gary has picked three different wines to review in this virtual tasting. Viewers cchoose to buy in advance and then taste along with him to compare notes. Shipping was free and you could buy either a one bottle pack, a two bottle pack or all three.

I went with the one bottle pack and I was VERY pleasantly surprised. Not only is it a great wine, there is a tie in with the Wine Blogging Book Club book of the month! I'll be drinking the wine and watching today's episode so I can compare notes with Gary and other viewers. I'll share my observations in a future blog post.

Midtown Winers:

Today is also the monthly meeting of an old fashioned wine tasting event where people actually gather together and taste the same wine and talk about it. Strange concept, but it's been working for quite a while at the Midtown Winers in Sacramento, CA. This month's topic is "Obscure Varietals," defined as the lesser know Bordeaux varietals of Petite Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. I bought a Petite Verdot to share. I also bought a Cabernet Franc, but that has to do with the next event.

April 2:  Wine Blogging Wednesday

This monthly virtual wine tasting event is also hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk and the theme is French Cabernet Franc. What a coincidence! I was not able to get a 100% Cab Franc, my wine only has 18% Cab Franc. I hope it counts. Maybe I'll run across a 100% Cab Franc at the Midtown Winers tonight. Either way, I enjoyed the Bordeaux wine I tasted for WBW # 44.

April 20:  Winery Event in Clarksburg

I'm going to need a break after this week! Fortunately the next event isn't until the middle of the month. A local winery, Scribner Bend Vineyards, is having a "release party" in Clarksburg. They have a varietal I've never tried a white wine from the Fiano grape! I enjoyed my trip to Clarksburg in March and it will be great to see the vineyards in full bloom a month later.

April 29:  Wine Blogging Book Club

The second book of the Wine Blogging Book Club is Nobel Rot. I've really been enjoying reading this book. It not only details a year in Bordeaux, but it gives great history of Bordeaux and details about making wine from grape to bottle.

Dates Through April:  My first Garagiste delivery

Dr. Debs, from Good Wine Under $20, wrote a post back in January about the hush, hush web-site Garagiste. The owners of the site get hard to find wines from all over the world for affordable prices. I intended to buy a case of Italian wines from Corti Brothers, but my plan was put on hold when I discovered this web site. I'll be receiving my first case from Garagiste this month. There are several wines from varietals I've never tried, some great sounding wines from great regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja and Scilily to name a few. I'll have even more interesting wine to blog about once the bottles start arriving!

Here's hoping your April is as promising looking as mine and that your April Fool's day is uneventful!