Last night was the annual Toast of the Town wine tasting to benefit CARE Clinic of Fayetteville. This year instead of having a number of silent auction items (last year I donated four bottles of wine and a six-bottle canvas carrier) they raffled off about a dozen prizes. I put raffle tickets in for a tooth whitening and a Carolina Panthers package. I think well over 100 wines were available for tasting--mostly USA wines. I tasted probably about 20. Carrabba's and a local bakery provided food--included herbed roast chicken, mussels, shrimp, and small cream puffs. It wasn't the kind of setting to take notes but I did list some I liked:
Simi Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Robert Mondavi Napa Valley C.S.
Estancia Meritage, Paso Robles.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2011, New Zealand.
Crossings Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, New Zealand,
Rosenblum Paso Robles and Contra Costa Zinfandels (I slightly prefered the Paso Robles version; Contra Costa is from older vines).
Paringa Shiraz, Australia (a QPR I used to buy with some regularity,)
Pascual Toso Malbec, Argentina.
Nothing that truly excited me but I ordered one bottle each of the Simi Cabernet, the Estancia Meritage and two bottles of the Crossings Sauvignon Blanc as a good summer wine. I also requested that a local wine shop try to special order for me three bottle of Barnard Griffin Rose' of Sangiovese (Washington State) for summer sipping. It is already in the 90's in North Carolina!