We recently joined the American Wine Society (AWS). We are always looking for opportunities to continue our wine education and to meet other wine lovers. There are 180 chapters throughout the United States. We are fortunate to have 2 within an hour’s drive; Lake Hickory Chapter and Catawba County Chapter. Both seem to offer a lot of opportunities to taste and talk about wine. We have a scheduled Lake Hickory event coming up, but last Friday we attended our first Catawba County event. When we received the invite to the Judgement of North Carolina, we were immediately intrigued. The co-presidents of this chapter are Ron and Margy Natalie. They hosted the tasting. Full disclosure: this was a social event and not an official competition with medals. It was a fun evening to enjoy great wine and discuss what we enjoyed about the wine.
We arrived for the social hour. We were immediately greeted by several members. Members are welcome to bring wine to share. I was surprised to see so many North Carolina wines. It was a great time to meet other members. Once the social time was completed we picked out our seats for the tasting of 4 North Carolina wines (2 Italian and 2 French styles) against the world. This was a blind tasting. We used the AWS wine evaluation chart. This chart offers a simple guide to judging wine and gives suggestions to be more precise in describing taste and aromas.
Pairing #1
The first pairing was Chardonnay. The two wines were Louis Jadot and Jones von Drehle. Jones von Drehle is located in Thurmond. Charles and I had these wines rated within a few points of each other. The group as a whole gave the win to Louis Jadot.
Pairing #2
The second pairing was rosé The two rosés were Jones von Drehle Rosa Dia and Le Fete du Rosé Cotes de Provence. Charles and I both rated Jones von Drehle Rosa Dia better than its counterpart. The group overwhelmingly rated Rosa Dia better as well. The grape used was grenache.
Paring #3
The next pairing was sagrantino wines. The two wines used were the Raffaldini Sagrantino and Arnaldo Caprai Collepiano Sagrantino. Raffadini Vineyards is located in Ronda. Charles and I rated Raffaldini much higher as did the group, although by a smaller margin.
Pairing #4
The final pairing involved higher alcohol and the most tannic of all the wines. The two wines were Raffadini’s Grande Riserva and Antinori Guado al tasso Il Bruciato. The Antinori blend was the winner with a slight margin with Charles and I. The group as a whole rated Antinori by a slightly larger margin.
On the whole we felt North Carolina wines held their own and demonstrated just how complex and intriguing they can be. It was a fun evening tasting and discussing wines. We look forward to the next event.
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