Girls gone wine.

I know it seems like I talk a lot about wine lately, but I promise I'm not becoming obsessed. After this post, I'll try to cool it a bit, maybe talk about beer.

On Saturday, a few girls and I went to Vino Piazza, a little outdoor winery collective in Lockeford. There's been big talk about this place for a while, and there's always events going on that sound pretty sophisticated. So we were surprised when we showed up at what looked like a big barn surrounded by dirt. My dad dropped us off (how cute is that? my own chauffeur, like in high school) and we kinda peered around trying to find the "entrance." We ended up just walking into the closest building, and decided to start with lunch.

This place, Gigolo's, totally understands that it's the only game in town. The food is fine, Italian bistro style, but a little overpriced. My penne with marinara was like 13 bucks, and the tomato sauce was pretty Prego. And Parmesan from a green can. Interesting choice. But the server was nice, and it was a nice primer for the day.

After that, we started out at Boitano, the only place I actually bought something. The other three girls were going to "expand their palates," read: inexperienced, so it was kind of like the blind leading the blind. I thought we should start with whites, but that table was overcrowded, so went to the reds. The one I got was a beaujolais-style sangiovese, fermented in steel barrels instead of oak, so there weren't any tannins. It was nice and smooth, and something totally different, which justified it for me. The other girls weren't impressed, so we moved on.

At the next couple of places, I got the impression that wine to novices is grody. I got this impression because of the faces that were being made during tastings. I think "grimace" would be appropriate. Or maybe "being killed slowly by strangulation." My feeling is, you know sort of what you're getting into, so be prepared that it's not going to be Kool-Aid. And please, don't do it in front of the winemaker. Because then they'll ignore us and we'll wait 10 minutes for our taste of muscat. And I love dessert wine.

At one place I was irritated by the server. One girl wanted to try the white port, a dessert wine, so she asked for it first. She hadn't had much luck that day. After she tried it, she wanted to taste the chardonnay. The pour came, but the woman said, "It's going to taste really sour. You did it in the wrong order." You know, I understand there's a protocol in tasting, but first, not everyone does, and second, her role is to teach, not intimidate. And who's going to buy something after they're made to feel dumb?

The last place, Pasos, was the best. We got to pick which olives we wanted the owner to open, and he brought out crackers, too! Snacks after drinking are always appreciated. So we sat there for a minute, but since dad was coming soon, we exited and sat outside and talked about boys while we waited. See, totally high school.