The Wine Trifecta

Last Wednesday, Sally and I had a trifecta of great wine experiences. We explored new wines, enjoyed some great food, and shared a bottle of wine with a friend.

Can it get any better on a Wednesday night?

We met our friend Yolanda after work at Village Vino to taste some Spanish wine that had been brought in by wine importer Valkyrie Selections. For $15, we each got to taste five wines ranging from a light Rosé to a robust red blend. The wines had all received a rating of 90 points or higher from wine critic Steve Tanzer, the editor and publisher of International Wine Cellar. It was a good learning experience since we're not very familiar with Spanish wine.

Here were our favorites:

2012 Raventos I Blanc Rosa 100% Pinot Noir.

2011 Tomàs Cusiné “Auzells.” 31% Macabeu, 27% Sauvignon Blanc, 16% Riesling, 16% Chardonnay, 5% Albariño, 3% Müller Thurgau, and 2% Muscat.

2007 Joan Simó “Sentius.” 48% Grenache, 15% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah, and 10% Carignan.

The Sentius was the consensus top pick, so we purchased a bottle to share. Village Vino has a nice selection of finger foods that are perfect for pairing with wine and we decided on a cheese plate and their salumi flatbread. 

The wine tasting was a little too successful because Village Vino had sold out of several of the wines by the time we wound down our evening. We did pick up a bottle of the 2011 Tomàs Cusiné “Auzells and plus a 2011 Domain Girault Le Grand Moulin Sancerre to replace a bottle we had recently consumed. (The Sancerre was a discovery from another Village Vino event.)

One of the nice things about the event was your tasting fee was refunded if you purchased a bottle. Village Vino's wine prices are already very reasonable, so this was just icing on the cake.

We've had several posts this year about events at Village Vino. I highly recommend checking out their events calendar if you happen to live in San Diego to see if you can score a wine trifecta of your own.

Enjoying Spanish wine at Village Vino with our friend Yolanda.