October Meeting of the Naples Sunset Chapter of the American Wine Society

It was that time of the month again and the first Friday of each month the Naples Sunset Chapter of the American Wine Society meets.

As usual there was social hour before the night’s tasting.

There were plenty of nibbles to be had as well with everything from lesco (Lesco) to peach pie.

The evening’s tasting were wines from Bordeaux.

Here is a map of France. The Bordeaux area of France is in the southwest corner of the country. It abuts the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf Stream currents keep conditions moderate.

and here is a map of Bordeaux.

Bordeaux is split in half by the Gironde Estuary (Gironde Estuary). The left bank of the river is home to some of the finest wineries in the world such as Chateau Margeaux (Chateau Margeaux), Chateau Latour (Chateau Latour) and Chateau Lafite Rothschild (Chateau Lafite Rothschild).

The soil on the right bank is mostly chalk/limestone. In part because of this, wines from the right bank are more tannic, but much less expensive. 

 One of our members gave an excellent presentation about Bordeaux and some of the wines from that region.

The first tasting was a vertical tasting (Verticle Tasting). This is when a the same wines from the same vintner (chateau in france) are sampled but from different years. One can really get a sense of vintage (Vintage) from a tasting like this.

This evening Chateau Garraud was the vintner. All the participants that night really seemed to enjoy the wines.

The second half of the evening was a horizontal tasting (Horozontal Tasting). This is where a wine from the same year is selected but from different producers.

One of the wines was from Chateau de Sales

the other was from Chateau Laplagnotte-Bellevue.

Both were highly rated by the group.

Well that’s that. Another post on forks.