We had an impromptu hang with our neighbors Cher and Chris the other night. It was the perfect "leftovers" tapas party. Kara and I had some tidbits left from a dinner we cooked the night before that I was able to construct into some little bites. Chris recently acquired a "Slider Kit" which he had used the night before and wanted to share with us.
In honor of all the little tidbits, I thought I'd break out this really cool collection Seghesio winery had sent me. They bottled six of their wines into little 1 oz. tasting bottles under a zero oxygen environment. Sounded intense to me! And what a cool way to get to taste the wines. Not under pressure of a salesperson or at a tasting room, but out of little baby 1 oz. bottles in the comfort of your own home.
Sad to say, while it seemed like a great concept, the result was severely disappointing. All of the bottles were affected by oxygen and tasted port-like. After tasting the third wine, it was clear. Tragic! Chris, who is in marketing, concurred that it was a great idea, but obviously a poor execution. So, I have no tasting notes to offer on the six wines they provided, except that they were all damaged.
In lieu of those, I did have a half bottle of Seghesio Sonoma Zin 2008 onhand that I opened for the gang to show what their wines taste like normally. What a difference! Structure, ripe fruit that remained controlled, tobacco and pepper. It was a delicious Zin and thank God I had it or I might have left the table cursing the name of Seghesio winery.
I hope they get this concept worked out. It was a brilliant thought!
Rob,
ReplyDeleteHi! Cathy Seghesio here. Thanks for your nice words about our wines and the second chance. We, too, were so disappointed the mini bottles didn't hold up longer. We love the idea and, realizing how great the opportunity would be to have choice somms like you taste on their own schedule, we jumped right in. The shelflife for the bottles has proved to be about 4 months rather than the 6 months we were told. We are holding off on producing more until we are guaranteed shelflife is extended to a year or more. Happy to get you full-sized samples of any of the wines you felt might work for you in the restaurant. My email is cathy@seghesio.com
Thanks so much for the information! I've always been a fan of your wines. I don't know if anyone was more disappointed than I was with the unusual presentation. I'm happy to say that the Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel 2008 is one of our best selling half bottles! Thank for your kind words and general commitment to excellence in winemaking!
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