Tonight is the second Wine-O night. This round is Aussie Reds. It's going to be a great line up, so far we have two d'Arenberg Shiraz (Footbolt and The Dead Arm) and The Barossa Shiraz from Peter Lehman.

Click out more info to find out about Wine-O'sThis is the original Wine-o email:

“In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food
and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking
wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as
natural as eating and to me as necessary.”

–A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemmingway

So I've talked to a bunch of you about a “Wine Club” of sorts and am finally getting around to doing something about it. Wine is such a great thing to drink, but such a mysticism has been built up around it that buying a bottle can trigger a nervous breakdown, and bringing a bottle to a friends house is more likely an occasion for feeling embarressed than a generous gift. The greatest lesson I learned working at the wine shop wasn't which region makes the best wines (there isn't one), which grape makes the best wine (all of them), or even the best way to drink wine (with friends of course). It is that the only way to truly know if a wine is any good is to drink it.

So I propose this:

-Getting together every other month or so to taste wine and talk about it – totally casual, I'm sure there will be as much BS-ing as real tasting.

-Picking a category so that we can compare related wines.

-Every 2 people bring a bottle of wine that fits the category.

-Everyone has to learn a little something about the wine they bring so that we can all learn about it. Kinda like show-and-tell with al-ke-hall.

-I'm guessing that typically we'll be looking at wines that could cost a bit, but you get to split the price with a friend and you get to try a bunch of wines at that price- So, if 12 people come with 6 bottles of wine at $40/ bottle you've spent $20 to try $240 worth of wine!

So, how about at my place Friday November 19 at 8pm?

I think we should start off with the home turf- so how about California single grape red wines from a particular vineyard, county or district. If the bottle just says “California” or “Central Coast” or something like that then its not quite specific enough. If it says something like “Sonoma County”, “Santa Ynez Valley”, “Stag's Leap District”, “Simpson Vineyard” you're on the right track. The more specific generally the better. As for the grape look for Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petit Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sangiovese, et cetera. I think $20-$30+ is probably a good target, but feel free to go higher or lower if you think you've found
something special. And any good wine-monger can help you get the right thing.

E-mail me if you're interested and planning on coming, then “reply all” to the group which grape you get so that we don't end up with six bottles of Zin or something like that, variety will be the key to this tasting. Also e-mail me if you need a partner to buy your wine with, I'll get you hooked up with someone.

Dan

PS Good shops in town- Bella Vino on Plymouth, Village Corner on South University, Big Ten Party Store on Parker, Coleman's on Liberty near Stadium, Baxter's on Zeeb at I-94 and a bunch of others.

PPS I've already got a Zinfandel I'd like to share so, um… maybe don't pick that.