On a beautiful November Sunday afternoon, more than eighty NNJR members and their friends traveled to Schooley’s Mountain Lodge to sample some special wines. As folks gathered, we were treated to the site of a new Panamera sitting at the Lodge entrance. Richard Stauffer from Ray Catena Porsche brought this beautiful Porsche—and some nice door prizes. Nice way to start the afternoon!

Attendees picked up their name tags and headed for the fireplace, where the aperitif was being poured. After the first sip or two, the usual question: what is it? Answered by a glance at the bottle: a German Sekt, an extremely nice sparkling wine made from 100% Riesling grapes.
Shortly, it was time to sit down for the first of three flights: two “compare and contrast” wines in each. The theme: Wines of Argentina. The first flight: two Torrontès, the native white wine of Argentina. The Wall Street Journal described Torrontès as “one of the most charming whites around, with a nose of orange blossoms, a taste of tropical fruits and a nice undertone of minerals.” 
The only possible complaint: both Torrontès were excellent and perhaps too similar. That said, most of us felt we would be happy to drink either one, especially with food. Our talented chefs provided a tasty lobster spread and sweet/sour ramekins that highlighted the food-friendly nature of the Torrontès.
As usual, Peter Meier provided the expert commentary, including a basic how-to for the newcomers in the audience: compare the color, then the “nose”. What did you smell? What kind of fruit? What else? Only then is it time to take a taste and swirl it around in the mouth. This time, describe what you tasted. Fruit? Which one? Was the body light, medium, or full? You get the idea though it is a lot more fun with a glass of wine that it is to describe on paper.
Onto the next flight: two Malbecs, one from Argentina and one from France (the original home of the Malbec grape and one of the Bordeaux varietals for those of you keeping score). Others have described Malbec as having characteristics that fall somewhere between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. From our selection tasting, I remembered the Argentine wine having a bigger nose but this time the two were so close, many of us found it difficult to tell them apart. That was the bad news. The good news is that both were extremely attractive and paired beautifully with the empanadas and the bruschetta prepared by our chefs.
The final flight: two Argentine Malbecs. This time almost everyone found the differences between two terrific wines. But virtually every table had an argument about which was better! Personally, I liked the first one because it had more fruit and the oak was less pronounced. But the oaky tinge to the second one caused many in the room to praise its smoothness and drinkability. I guess that is what makes wine tasting fun: there are as many legitimate opinions, and tastes, as there are people.
Before the group moved on to dessert and coffee, we pulled the lucky winners of the Ray Catena Porsche Panamera door prizes (I know what you are thinking—these were very nice desk size versions) and a Rennsport Reunion DVD. The last door prize: a large gift basket from Colavita filled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and numerous other gourmet items. Katie was thrilled to have the winning ticket! Thank you Robert and Colavita!
At this point, the price list was distributed (the only question off limit during the tasting was the pricing). Several lucky attendees got their wallets out in time to buy the few bottles remaining from each case that we tasted.
As usual, there are many thank you’s needed. First to Peter Meier for introducing us to a whole new set of wines and educating our palates. Next to our chefs: Kathy Gilbert and Barbara Gardner, ably assisted by Allan Gardner. In fact, Barbara and Allan came from Boston just to help us with the event. We will miss their help next year! Helping Barbara and Kathy serve the food were Liz Holcomb, Wendy Fried, and Mary Campbell.
The wine selection “committee” included yours truly, Allan, Dennis Thovson, and Peter. Assisting the committee with pouring the wine were Doug Holcomb, Peter Fried, Al Pyatak, and John Bendokas. The room and table decorations were provided by Marlys Thovson. Dennis made the coffee and took photos. Marlys and Mary welcomed everyone at the registration table.
All of these folks helped with setup and tear down, assisted by David Garcia who brought the NNJR PA system and Al Pyatak who managed to get it working at the last minute, despite a faulty power supply!
If you missed the event, feel free to email me for a list of the wines. And watch for next year’s event so that you can sign up early. One last thing: we are always looking for volunteers to help!
A final thanks to everyone who joined us last Sunday for a great event. We look forward to seeing you over a glass of wine in the near future.