Le Calendar: Year Two

Because if you put a "Le" in front of it, it seems so much more, how you say, enticing...


Standing date: First Saturday of the month
Hour: 7 p.m.
We typically have tapas and appetizers, but not a full dinner.

• December 4: California Cabernet. Because it's about time we paid attention to these gems. Bring in something you've been curious to try, or an old favorite. 

• January 1: Start the year drunk happy. Theme: Decanter go wrong? Bring in anything you want -- from two buck chuck to Chateau Lafite Rothschild '06 Pauillac. We'll sample it twice: first right from the bottle, then after its relaxing sojourn in the decanter.

• February 5: Sherry, cherie? Had some lovely jerez fino in Spain and now I'm hooked. Bring your favorite out-of-print poetry book and if things go according to plan, we'll conclude the evening with readings.

• March 5: California vs French: Half of the group will bring in wines from California, and the other half will bring in matching wines from France. We'll decide on what kind of wine to bring, closer to the date. What are the differences? Which do you prefer?

• April 2: Match the label to the wine. Everyone brings in a red wine with a descriptive label.   Please transcribe the label separately, with no info about the wine's make, model or year. As we sample, we'll try to determine which of the wines is "fruity with a hint of lavender," which "evokes a leek omelet on a raining morning" and which is "aged in oak barrels resulting in a smooth finish." Detective work! 

• May 7: Tequila! We'll experience one from each of the 5 classifications: silver, gold, reposado, anejo and extra anejo. I don't know what they mean, but I have a feeling it will be fun finding out.

• June 4: White Grape Sampler: Let's stick with $10-$25 per bottle and explore less common white grapes. Viognier, Semillion, Chenin Blanc, Palomino, Vernaccia and more. (Anything but Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and dessert wines, please.)

• July 2: Patriotic wine day. Bring in a wine from your home country. So far the options include Romania, Spain, Mexico, Lebanon, India and this fair republic. The point is to explore new possibilities, discover new horizons and decide whose wine comes closest to the insuperable Romanian varietals.

• August 6: Blind paradox: They say knowing a wine is expensive makes a taster prefer it. What happens when the label disappears? We'll taste bottles ranging from $10 to $60. To make it fair, I can 'assign' a price point to each person, then bring in your receipt and we'll average them out. 

• September 3: One grape, one region: TBD. 

• October 1: Benefits of aging: We'll pick one wine -- anything that ages well -- and everyone who's coming brings one from a consecutive year. The more the merrier. Ideally, we'll get to sample the same wine from 2000-2005, for example. If there's a big price difference between bottles, we can average it out. And if only a few people participate, we can do every other year.

All ideas, dates and times are subject to change based on your welcomed suggestions and requests.

Please let me know a few days ahead if you can make it. Let me know if you like a tasting theme but can't make that date. Let me know if you want off this list.


ciao!