Traveling Vineyards Wine Tasting
Our wine tasting was SO FUN, and it seemed like our guests really enjoyed themselves! (At least, I know I did! 
) We tasted 5 delicious wines, learned new things, ate yummy food, and ended the night with a dance party! I’d say it was a success! 
Our wine tasting was run by a wine consultant from the Traveling Vineyards, a company that brings wine tastings into your home, complete with five full bottles, to enjoy with your guests for free! Of course, the consultants want to sell you wine, but you are not obligated to buy anything at all.
The food spread for the wine tasting was unbelievable! Mal and I prepared all sorts of dishes and our friends brought even more delicious goodies. (I wasn’t able to take photos of everything because I was busy chatting away!) We ended up having a little bit of everything, but by the end of the night, it was all gone!
Mal and I made a low-cal artichoke dip (created by Bethenny Frankel) that had a ton of flavor and didn’t taste “healthy” at all. We also made homemade pita chips in our toaster oven to scoop up the dip, which was gobbled up by our guests in a matter of minutes! Our friends loved it!
My sister made Burger bites…
… as well as the most delicious Cornflake Cookies. The Cornflake Cookies sort of tasted like Rice Crispy Treats, but softer and more moist. I ate at least 3 last night! 
The spread…
Time to eat!
My plate (+ many, many cookies)…
After digging into the food, we learned about wine. Our consultant was very knowledgeable, but not pretentious in they way she presented the wines to us. She made the wine tasting fun by adding little tidbits of information about each of the bottles, but let us discuss the wines and share our opinions in a casual way. Basically, we laughed a lot and enjoyed tasting new wines!
Mal took his wine tasting seriously. (He loves to learn.) Here he is examining the color of his white wine before tasting it.
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At the tasting, we tried 2 white and 3 red wines. I took a few notes on each (in italics):
- 2007 Cielo, Famatina Valley Torrontes, Argentina
Citrusy, zingy, citrus flavors, a tad peachy, smooth, not oak-y, loved this one! - 2006 Pierre-Luc Bouchaud, Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie, France
Medium bodied, clean, crisp, dry - 2006 Catania, Ribera del Duero, Spain
Medium bodied, flavors of ripe berries, a tad spicy, dry and sweet, delicious - 2006 Paseo Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, unfiltered, Maule Valley, Chile
Brick red color, medium to full bodied, earthy, flavors of cherry, blackberry, and chocolate - 2005 Blair Family Estate, “Reserve” Zinfandel, California
Flavors of raspberry, black berry, raisin-y, really nice wine
Both Mal and I especially enjoyed the Cielo, so we ended up purchasing two bottles. We probably would have ordered a couple of the reds too, but we are gearing up for summer, and to me summer means cool, crisp white wine!
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I enjoyed tasting all of the wines last night, but apparently there was one I didn’t like too much. Mal caught my “opinion” of it at just the right time! I guess I wasn’t a fan!
More tastes…
Diligent note-taking…
I drank another glass of wine after the tasting, but our friends (and my husband) decided to have some beers. The evening ended with an intense dance party in our apartment. As you can see, Mal made use of his “props.”
I’m pretty sure Journey was playing when I snapped this photo!
All in all, it was a wonderful evening! I highly recommend Traveling Vineyards if you’re interested in doing a free wine tasting. It was a blast!
Posted by: Tina 40 comments
Posted in: Uncategorized
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Looks like an awesome time Tina!!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:16 am
That sounds like a great night! I’ll have to see if they have that in my neck of the woods!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:17 am
What a great night! Such a cool way to get together with friends
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Love that idea of a wine tasting party!! I definitely might need to steal it, Tina
Looks like such a fun night!!!
ps, I really LOVE your shirt! Please tell me it’s new and where I can get it!?!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
What a fun night!!!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Wow – what a fun and unique idea. You guys look like you had a blast!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
@katie s: It’s from H&M. I bought it last month!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I LOVE the Traveling Vineyards idea! What a great way to host a party, especially if you love wine…which I do
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:27 am
That sounds like so much fun! Where did you hear about them? I think I may have to throw one of these parties too. Way better than Pampered Chef, right
Ha ha
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:52 am
What a lovely spread! I love your top – I need to check out H&M!
on May 10th, 2009 at 11:43 am
That is such a great idea for a party!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
That sure looks fun!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
That Traveling Vineyard sounds so cool! What a fun party!!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
HOW FUN! I love that idea – I need to go check out their site and find someone who can do a party around here! Thanks for sharing!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Looks like so much fun! Have a fabulous Sunday!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
How funny, my aunt had a traveling vinyards wine tasting Thursday night! We had 3 whites and 2 reds too, but the majority were from California. I think my mom is going to have one next!
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Wow that looks so fun, do they do it all over the country?
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Your party sounds like so much fun! What a great idea. That artichoke dip sounds delicious. Where can I get the recipe? Do I have to buy Bethany’s book to find it?
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
@RK: It was in the May issue of Health magazine.
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Your wine tasting sounds so fun! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m going to have to look into them!
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
That looks like it was so much fun! I love the pictures of the dance party =)
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
that looks so fun!
on May 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Looks like a great time – love the food choices!!
on May 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
ahh – that sounds so cool!
on May 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
What a fun night! And for free?! Sign me up
on May 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
What a neat idea for an evening! It looks delicious and fun. Dance parties are the best!!! And journey is always amazing on those nights
on May 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
What a fun night! Glad you enjoyed it
on May 10th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Tina, thank you so much for hosting a wine tasting last night! You and Mal are amazing and your friends are a lot of fun! If anyone on the site is interseted in hosting a tasting anywhere in the country, you can feel free to email me at time2wine@verizon.net
I should have stayed for the after-tasting dance party!
on May 10th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Looks like fun. We were approached by someone from the company when standing in line for the Wine Riot. Good to know you liked it
The picture of Mal using “props” for dancing cracked me up!
on May 11th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Very good atmosphere; please the next time to keep me a good glass of red wine; because I love the wine.
on May 11th, 2009 at 6:33 am
There is a great absence, a good italian red wine as Priante, producted by Castel di Salve, Salento, Italy. For the newxt night http://www.casteldisalve.com/eng/vini.asp
and invite me!
on May 11th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Looks like a good time!
on May 11th, 2009 at 8:36 am
That looked like so much fun! I hosted a wine tasting once before for my girlfriends, and highly recommend the experience, too! A very good way to increase your knowledge about wine, while spending time with friends/loved ones.
Tina, if you don’t mind me asking, could you tell me what brand of jeans you are wearing? I’m obsessed with jeans, and I like those ones!
on May 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
@Lauren: They’re Sevens!
on May 11th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Ahhh so great you made Bethenny’s recipe! I’m jealous.
on May 11th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
That is a fantastic idea for a get together! I will definately have to look into it! Looks like you all had a great time!
on May 11th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Thanks–Sevens are always great!
on May 11th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Oooh another great idea to steal! And it looks like they provide you with glasses so I won’t have to embarrass myself with my random $2 wine glasses from IKEA (lol).
on Jun 10th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
[...] Mal and I hosted a wine tasting last month, we fell in love with a bottle of Torrontes. We purchased a couple of bottles, and [...]
on Aug 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
[...] Traveling Vineyards (you may have seen Tina talk about her experience with them here) – the hostess picks the 5 wines they want the group to try – and that’s it! They take care [...]