It's against the law to send wine through the mail, so I had to buy it from somewhere that could ship it. I chose K&L, my favorite local shop.
I was somewhat constrained when I chose the wine. I wanted them all to be from different regions of California and new to me. An additional complication was they all had to be found in the main warehouse of K&L so they would go out in one package; paying for shipping is bad enough once.
I considered doing a skype tasting, but Katie said it usually takes them a week to get through a bottle, so they would need help getting through 4. A skype tasting with just us would have been pretty geeky, but with others it would probably have been a tad strange, so we decided to taste separately and share the results.
West Coast Tasting
We invited Ted and Shannon, and Bob and Carolyn over. I prepoured the wines.
It was my first chance to use the new slate cheese plate and cheese knives I received for Christmas. The plate allows the names of the cheeses to be written on it. It rocks. Thanks Sue! The cheese knives are just too cool and much too exorbitant.Thanks mom!, you shouldn't have.
We tasted the Pinots, sharing our thoughts as we enjoyed each other's company.
After tasting, we enjoyed a great meal of seafood enchiladas and chicken nachos.
Results
A - 2007 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Bailey's Branciforte Ridge, Santa Cruz Mountains came in first with an average score of 3.29. It cost $29.
D - 2009 Sequana, Santa Lucia Highlands came in second with an average score of 3.04. It cost $30.
B - 2007 Alysian, Star Ridge Vineyard, East Terrace, Russion River Valley came in third with an average score of 2.69. It cost $35.
C - 2009 Alta Maria Vineyards, Santa Maria Valley came in last with an average score of 2. It cost $24.
Chicago Tasting
Kellie and Katie had a great time. Apparently they stayed up until 2AM for the first time since Elliot was born.
