Gratitude Monday: Tasting notes

A while ago I engaged in a rant about how someone had received a Christmas gift of Oregon wines. I was truly upset about her plan to just swill all four bottles in a night with her Women Who Wine pals—even though I acknowledged that once you’ve given the present, the recipient is entitled to do whatever s/he pleases with it.

Well, last week I got the measured judgments of the six WWW on the wines, and…

Here were the instructions:

1. Overall Score (1 to 10, 10 being high)

2. Would you buy this wine if it was priced between $15 to $20? Y/N

3. How does this wine compare to the other wines? Please compare reds to reds and whites to whites. Just write what you want below.

First of all, one of the participants doesn’t appear to have grasped point 1: her cards had no score on any of the wines.

Second—discounting Ms. No Score, the highest average rating was 7.5, for the Chardonnay. The Pinot Gris (or Pino Gris, as one of them wrote) got 4.0, the Pinot Noir 5.4 and the red blend got 3.8.

The price point elicited some interesting responses. The Char:

“Yes if on sale for 30% off at Basha’s” (Which, tbf, means no.) And “Maybe $15 but $7 is better.” Um

Only one person would buy the PG at $15, though there was another who would grudgingly fork over $8.

Ditto for the blend—the one yes stipulated that she wouldn’t go any higher than $15.

Two said they’d buy the PN at $15-$20, although one qualified her yes with “if friends who liked lighter reds wanted to try a ‘light’ pinot noir.” I really liked this sniff: “Doubtful. Does not compare w/ Santa Ynez Valley pino [sic]”

As for the “tasting notes”, on the Westrey Pinot Gris: “Too dry too oaky too not for me as compared to any wine I have ever tasted.”

The Twill Chardonnay: “This fruity light chardonay [sic] is not as dry as others I have tasted and usually do not like. Personally I like sweet sparkling white Moscato” I have to say I’m not quite sure about this one: “Josh, Chatau [sic] St [sic] Michelle This is a very lite wine”

If the PN was too “lite”, the Pour Me Red Wine Blend was excoriated for being too strong. Ms. Moscato’s comment was “As Red Blend I like one that is not as high in alcohol [evidently 14.6%; they were keeping track]. Like white sweet wines” Ms. Santa Ynez Valley just sniffed (again), “poor choice”

So what’s this got to do with Gratitude Monday? I’ve got over my strop about my gift not being used as intended, much less appreciated. It gave six women the opportunity to come together and pronounce the Judgment of the Desert. And those comments! Bwahahaha! I have completely let this go.

I hope the cheese and crackers made up for their disappointment in the wine.