And so the journey begins

I'm beginning to understand why you drink so much when get to France. All the unnecessary waiting at the airport will drive you to drink. I'm sure you are all thinking, excuses, excuses. Well, in killing some time waiting for the plane to board, I might as well tell you about my final day of training.

We all know you have to practice what you will experience in real life in order to be fully prepared. Thursday was definitely a pro-level training session 4 hours, 25 wines, and a huge lunch. I'm ready. Tasting mainly California wines really did put the exclamation point on the trip to come. Some of the highlights of the tasting were:

Renaud Macon-Villages '08-  a clean, refreshing crowd-pleaser just as you would expect. The prices of the wines this little jewel beat out are too embarrassing to mention and they were all from California. Hope that earns me some hard to get stuff when I get to Burgundy.

It was hard to go wrong with the Pinot Noirs on the table, but Miner Rosella's '06 was stunning. All I need to remember that wine in my mind is "WOW!" Only 8 days into the new year, but this is best wine I've tasted in 2010. Now let's see how long they can hold the title.

On the Merlot front, the group seemed struck by Paradigm '04 and Gundlach-Bundschu ('06?) Different price-points, but both delicioso.

Finishing with the Cab-based wine that caught my taste-buds, I was taken with the new Cain Concept ('06?). This was blending done right, with layers of fruit and spice that really left me feeling this was an onion I was willing to peel.

I'm anxious to dive into some Cab Franc in the next 24 hours. With Loire the first stop on the tour, I'm not going to be anxious much longer. Ah, and what to accompany a lovely Chinon?...I'll let you know, stay tuned...

Here's a shout-out as promised to my junior tasters - Elaine and James. Hope you are reading Dad's writing, it's good practice.