Next Twitter Tastings: #NZSAVVY, #AlsaceRocks

Twitter  wine tastings are fast and fun–and you get to taste wine in a community of friends without leaving your own home! You can compare notes, learn from experts, test your palate against other wine influencers, consumers, and bloggers, and also get ideas for food pairings.

Open to everyone, thevillamariasunflower trick is to find out about these tastings in time to get the wine so you can join in! Some of the wines are obscure, and the point of the tasting is an introduction to them. Other times, the wine is a new release.

For this week’s tasting, which takes place from 5-6pm PST Weds June 18, the wine, Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, is easy to find at most grocery stores while next week’s tasting  which features Crémant d’Alsace Bruts will likely need you to go to a specialty wine store.

So what wine do you need to get and how do you take part?

#NZSAVVY June 18, 2015 5pm

On Wednesday, June 18 for the Villa Maria Twitter Wine Tasting at 5 pm PT/ 8 pm ET, we will be tasting and tweeting with Villa Maria Master of Wines, Alastair Maling who has joined us for previous tastings–I think this is my third year! Here’s the post with the results of the 2012 tasting.

With a hashtag #NZSAVVY, the chat will be moderated by Elizabeth Schneider https://twitter.com/NormalWine who wrote more about the Twitter chat here: http://bit.ly/1oe5XZ1

She mentions an NZ travel contest, too: http://www.thewinepromotion.com/Villa-Maria

Of course I went right away and signed up! Wish me luck!

We will be tasting Villa Maria’s 2014 Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc which is about to be released (so no, you won’t find it in the stores yet!) and the  2013 Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc (that one you should be able to find for around $15 or so).

To join, follow
Villa Maria Wine @villamaria_wine  https://twitter.com/#!/villamaria_wine.
Alastair Maling  @alastairmaling (http://twitter.com/alastairmaling)
Elizabeth @normalwine.

Use the hashtag #NZSAVVY

Please note that these are samples sent for my review consideration: http://cmp.ly/2

#AlsaceRocks Thursday June 26 4pm

Dopff&IrionAlsaceBrutCremantThis is the third year I’ve participated in the #AlsaceRocks tasting, too. Read more about Alsatian wine, and specifically Alsatian Riesling here Read about Alsatian Pinot Gris here and about Lucien Albrecht Rose here. Hosted by Wines of Alsace Thursday, June 26th from 6-7 pm CST (7-8 pm EST / 4-5 pm PST), this time around we are tasting  in the following order four different Crémants d’Alsace:
1. Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Blanc de Blancs Brut
2. Gustave Lorentz Crémant d’Alsace Brut
3. Dopff & Irion Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé
4. Charles Baur Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé
Many people don’t know what this means. In two words, simply delish bubbles from the Alsace region in Europe!
And no, they’re not Champagne because Champagne refers to wine that comes from the Champagne region of France and ONLY those wines.
These bubbles are made in the same way as Champagne and many other sparkling wines, and certainly they might be just as good as many from Champagne but they don’t have that “name” to them so they often offer a much better bang for the buck, especially right now in June when Wines of Alsace is partnering with Binny’s for a month-long discount on all Crémants d’Alsace–perfect timing so you too can join this Twitter tasting and discover why #AlsaceROCKS. On Saturday June 28 from 1-4pm, all wines from Alsace will be on sale and there will be a free tasting.
These wines were sent to me for my review and consideration for participating in #AlsaceRocks.
Did you notice that one of the six bottles of wine was open? We opened the Dopff & Irion Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé early and did the “spoon trick” where you put a spoon in the bottle and for some reason it says bubbly!
We may open another one tonight because I have an opportunity to travel to Nicaragua and will be out of the country June 26. I haven’t decided whether to try to bring the other two bottles with me or not!
But I can tell you that the Dopff & Irion Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé is a winner, especially at $17.
We had friends over for a salmon dinner and it was delightful, beautiful, and festive with the salmon. The color is that of the inside of a delicate seashell and the bubbles are like seafoam, lightly dancing on your tongue like the foamy seawater does on your toes. In fact, the wine itself reminds me of being on the seashore–very refreshing on a warm day. (You can see how refreshing Amy The Crush and I  found the wine because we drank almost all of it–and our husbands were drinking mostly beer!) The wine has nice fruit to it, mostly red, like raspberry and wild strawberry, and watermelon, and some yeasty bread too.  Very lively,  Dopff & Irion Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé is made from Pinot noir grapes has balance, is NOT sweet (remember it’s Brut), and is a great value at $17. Versatile, this wine would go with many different foods so would be a great bottle to bring to a party or give as  a gift.

So are you doing any Twitter tastings?

 

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