Vino Amores celebrate Labor Day

Wally Davis

September 2 was a good night for some good wine tasting. The Vino Amores met at the home of Helen and Wally Davis. Almost all of our surviving members were on hand to enjoy six classic Zinfandel Wines, all from California but from several different areas in the wine country.

Food provided by the members of our group proved to be outstanding as usual. By way of celebrating the holiday, several (more than we needed) yummy desserts were on hand as well as many dips, chips and exotic looking morsels (even a fruit bread pudding) to enjoy. And we did!

The wines proved to be highly rated by the Vino Amores as well. Of the wines sampled, none fell below the “average” rating of 3 in our 1 to 5 rating range. Three of the wines were rated 3.80 or better, being good to very good. Our most highly rated wine was a 2009 Hayden Estates Zin from their Chamizal Vineyard. It rated a 4.00. It was also the most expensive wine poured during the night, which rarely happens. The “best buy” (an indication of good rating and low cost) was a 2008 Z-52 Zin at a 46.64 value rating, and a 3.14 tasting rating. A 2012 Old Vine Zin from Bogle, taste rated at 3.25, had a value rating of 46.33. The 2012 7 Deadly Zins rated a 3.81 on taste and the J Gott 2012 Zinfandel tasted at 3.80.

We get closer and closer together on our ratings of each wine as we gain more and more experience as to how to taste the wines for nose, fruit taste and finish. It is still a matter of what wine you like yourself, but we tend to understand that each of the varietals we taste will have their own distinct flavor and appeal.

We missed John and Martha Fagan, charter members for going on 11 years. We wish them well at M.D. Anderson in Houston.