Rubbing Elbows with Wine Critics

Last Wednesday evening, I spent a few hours hobnobbing with the best of the best in the wine industry. My friend Jordan's dad bought her two tickets to the Wine & Spirits Magazine Top 100 Tasting event, and she asked me to go with her! The event is a classy affair that showcases wines from the top 100 wineries in the world every year.

Let's just say, we did not exactly fit in. We were definitely the youngest people there and considering I hadn't heard of 96% of the wineries represented, probably the least educated in wine too. There were some serious wine critics there. Like, walking around to all 100 booths, introducing themselves and then spitting into a bucket after just a little taste. I, on the other hand, didn't want to waste anything! But don't worry, I didn't make it to all 100 booths either :)

To be honest I couldn't tell you everything I tried and have no idea what my favorite was. It was all so good! If I'm happy with 2 buck chuck from Trader Joe's, I think I'd be satisfied with any of the top 100 wines in the world, right? There were a few that stood out...oddly enough they were all ones I tasted towards the end of the night, after a fewww glasses of wine. Coincidence? Oh well. And if I'm being really honest, my preferences probably don't have much to do with the taste of the wine, but more with the interaction with the wine maker. At the beginning, we tried acting like we knew what we were doing and people seemed a little snobby. After awhile, we just admitted that we didn't know anything and a few of them were nice about it!

So without further ado, the ones I liked were:

Penfolds (Australia)

Mark Ryan Winery (Washington)

Bodega Catena Zapata (Don't remember but I liked the name!)

And last but not least, good old Chateau St. Michelle, which was already one of my favorites because it's where I spent my 21st birthday outside of Seattle with Katie!

But aside from all the wine I drank and the meatballs and deviled eggs I devoured, it was so much fun to be there and just take it all in. I hadn't seen Jordan since the Notre Dame game, a result of my lack of life in September, so we probably spent more time catching up than we did drinking wine! I'm sure this event was just a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it made me really excited that I'll finally have free time to get out and do things in San Francisco, hang out with friends, and meet new people. There's a lot to see and do and I already feel like Jordan (my Jordan, the boy) and I have missed out on two months of fun because of my studies and tests and work.

So here's to new adventures! But starting next week cause I'm in Michigan this weekend and DC for work next week. Ha :)

My friend Jordan!