Oscar Party: movies, wagering, and wine!

We used last Sunday's Academy Awards as an excuse to throw a party that had a little something for everyone: movies, wagering, and wine. It was a fun time, and the company of good friends and the delicious wine more than made up for my poor showing in our Oscar pool.

Movies

Sally and I are huge movie fans and try to see all of the Best Picture nominees every year. Even for our friends who are more casual movie watchers or those that don't see movies at all (a.k.a. parents), the Academy Awards is a fun show to watch with other people. There's humor, entertainment, and plenty to talk about.

Wagering

We ran a simple pool where each person chipped in $5 to submit their picks for each award. Our pool is equally weighted, so a correct guess for Best Picture is worth the same as getting the Sound Editing category right. Second place gets their money back, first place takes the rest of the pot, and last place gets a bottle of cheap wine to serve as a reminder that they need to stick to the basics.

Wine

It's a gathering, so why not drink some wine?! We served four wines blind at pairing stations and had our friends vote for their favorite. All of them were favorites we'd discovered on our wine adventures that retailed for less than $20 and could easily be found in most local wine shops. (We got ours at BevMo.) Here are the wines, the pairings, and the rankings.

4th Place: 2010 Line 39 Petite Sirah
This is a very tasty wine, but despite the deep purple color its flavor is a little light for Petite Sirah. Our guests had trouble identifying this grape and wished for a bit more tannin. Nonetheless, it was still considered enjoyable.

Paired with aged cheddar, manchego, and mini tacos (chicken and pork)

3rd Place: 2009 Kendall-Jackson Vinter's Reserve Chardonnay
According to Kendall-Jackson's website, this is the #1 selling Chardonnay in America. It's a good Chardonnay for it's price point with some crisp acidity that pairs well with food, though our guests were a little biased against the varietal.

Paired with double cream gouda, Monterey jack, and roasted chicken purses

2nd Place: 2010 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir
This wine drew rave reviews and several guests announced their intentions to acquire a bottle or two. It's definitely a California-style Pinot Noir with a lot of fruit, but it is flavorful, smooth, and goes well with a variety of foods. It was also the winner of our 2010 HalloWine blind tasting, so we had to bring it back to defend it's crown. 

Paired with creamy Havarti, Harvarti with dill, and beef brisket sandwiches

1st Place: NV Roederer Estate Brut Sparkling White Wine
It must have been a champenoise kind of night, because the Roederer Estate edged out the Cycles Gladiator by just one vote. This wine was a crowd pleaser with a crisp taste and notes of pear to go with the bubbles.

Paired with cream cheese topped with pineapple and apricot preserves and mini chicken egg rolls

Somehow, we managed to have such a good time we forgot to take any pictures. Here's one quickly staged photo of the four wines:

Vacation Wine Finds

We recently returned from a trip to Hawaii, visiting Oahu and Kauai. Leave it to us to find a local wine shop in the small town of Koloa, on the south shore of Kauai. The Wine Shop is a great little gem not far from the Sheraton Kauai, where we spent an amazing week. For being on a small island, they had quite the variety. We enjoyed exploring the shop and learning about a few local wines and guessing the island price on high-end wines.

Until a few years ago, we had a tradition of hosting a New Year's Eve Party with our friends, with the theme, "Coast to Coast Champagne Toast". It was a fun event in which we served sparkling wine from each US time zone, starting at 9pm with east coast and finalizing at 2am with Hawaii. Yes, we somehow found a pineapple based sparkling wine to serve ~Hula O Maui from Tedeschi Vineyards.

The wine shop carried a few of their other wines, so we decided to give the red blend a try. The Ulupalakua Red can best be described as a good 'third bottle'. Unfortunately, it was not our 3rd bottle. It seems their pineapple sparkling wine is a far better selection, especially at 2am on NYE!

While there, the owners shared with us they were having a free wine tasting event on Saturday night. They were showcasing four 'big wines' and the deli next door was providing an assortment of snacks. We worked it in our 'busy' schedule and attended the event on Saturday night. The place was hopping with locals and visitors. Although we wouldn't define them as big, but enjoyable all the same, we tasted all four wines being served: Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay, Mobius Cabernet from Sonoma County, Four Vines, and Peltier Station Zinfandel from Lodi. All were good, solid wines with a price point of $25 or less. While tasting, we munched on meats and cheese provided by the local deli and chatted with the wine distributor.

In addition to learning about the wines, we also learned a little about local liquor laws. Turns out, at many of the restaurants you can bring your own bottle, with a corkage fee. A good tip for next time! We also learned Kauai is one of the few places where you can actually take an open bottle out with you. Think that is one law we may not have to take advantage of too frequently!

The Wine Shop has been in business for 4 years, and we look forward to visiting them again on our next trip to Kauai ~ Mahalo!