Guest Post on My wWine Education

I have made periodic guest posts for My Wine Education over he past year as I have embarked on Opening my own fine wine store in the Cincinnati suburb of Mt Washington. These post have been dubbed Wine Store Wednesday and have chronicled the progress of our store and the process involved in opening a new store. I have been somewhat remiss in my posts to this blog site, but I have been very active in the wine world sampling some wonderful wines with commercial reps., wines I have purchased and through the Internet, with samples provided for me through Twitter Taste Live.
Recently I participated in a late night event with TTL. This tasting started at 8:30 PM Pacific time, or 11:30 Eastern time. I sampled five wines from a new venture from the folks who make Cornerstone wines. These wines are called Stepping Stone and though not priced to the luxury market are still not bargain priced. That said, I felt they were well worth the $16 (Rose and Sauv Bl) to $35 (Cabernet Sauvignon) prices. I also tried a great Cab Franc and a Syrah. These were all lush, full bodied wines, that would please any proponent of fruit forward California wines.
The Sauv Blanc was unusual in that the citrus notes were muted and more light tangerine. The wine was almost creamy. I could recommend this wine as a great summer sipper for those who are not interested in a glass of grapefruit juice with alcohol. This wine is both food friend, with nice balance , and soft enough to be enjoyed on its own.
The next wine tasted was a full bodied Rose. I love Rose' because they are all different ands so food friendly. This wine did not disappoint. While I was sampling this wine my wife brought me a hot fudge sundae and to my surprise it was quite complementary. I have more than fifty Rose' in my wine store and this wine, when available in the state would easily fit into my inventory.
These two wines were followed , by an incredible Syrah, that was lush and full bodied. This wine was the winner from my perspective. I did like the Cabernet and the Franc a great deal, but the Syrah had just the right balance of easy drinking to food friendly acid. I was excited enough about these wines that I called the local distributor to try and get them into my store. However only one is currently in the state of Ohio, so we will have to wait for these great values to come available.
We are entering the season of Holiday trade events, so I am sure that I will have many new and exciting wines to share with you over the next months. Stay tuned and check out the stores web site at www.watertowerfinewines.com for information on our tastings and more store information.