Sunday, September 18, 2011

"On the Road" Went On the Road!

By now, you all know my intense love for Herman Story Wines. I'm mean, truly. I'm in awe - and deeply in love.

People call me a "Picky, picky palate." And yes, I suppose that's true. But you know, I simply don't like drinking mediocre wine. For example, the other day, when we were tasting a French wine that had brett, I simply said, "I'm sorry. Call me picky, but I just don't like "poo" in my wine." Isn't that fair? I mean really, who likes poo in their wine? I don't.

So folks that I work with always say, "Well, Sarah, what do you like?" And I now answer:

HERMAN STORY.

So the other day, I brought in Herman Story's "On the Road" Grenache for an after work tasting so that they can finally get an idea of what type of wine I love. After just pouring the wine out of the bottle to start the breathing process, my buddy Seth grabbed the glass from me, smelled the bouquet and said, "OMG! This is exactly what I would expect a perfect Grenache wine to smell like." There were so many layers of complexity: beautiful cherry/raspberry fruit, spice - I even picked up a soft baby powder. Now Jennifer Hoage has said about one of her wines, that you could smell baby power in the bouquet. I had thought, "Why would you want to smell baby powder?" But you do. It's in the Herman Story Grenache and it is FABULOUS. (Please imagine in your head that I said FABULOUS in the high-pitched singsong voice.)

I proceeded to tell him that when I drank this wine as well as the Herman Story "Nuts & Bolts" wine, I started to tear up. He said, "Never, ever admit that you cried over a wine. That is just pathetic. If you do, keep it to yourself!" Well, he had a few sips, even though the wine hadn't fully breathed, and was totally in love. He left the room, and then came back crying like a baby - "This wine is amazing! It makes my dreams come true! I never realized a wine could be like this! How can I get more?" (Ok I realize I'm paraphrasing here, but he really was sobbing like a baby - hee hee!! )

Eventually, after the wine had opened up (Russell recommends that the wine decants for about an hour) everyone got to try the vino. Everyone was in love it with! Everyone, except the pickier, pickier Lindsay, that I work with. He's even pickier than me. "Yes, it's good" he said. "In fact, it's as good as any $75 bottle of wine I've tried (keep in mind the "On the Road Grenache is $42.) but I would prefer to taste the wine in about 5 years." Well, sure - I'd agree with you on that. This wine will become better and better with age. But to answer him, Seth and I said - "Good. You bottle age your wine, while we'll enjoy it and drink it all up right now!" In our minds, it's perfect and ready to go.

To mention, the other day I was lucky enough to taste the 2008 Bone Rock Saxum, 2008 L'Aventure Cote a Cote, a 2008 Booker Syrah & a 2008 Justin Focus. All were good (with the Saxum being my favorite) but the Herman Story 2009 On the Road Grenache blew them ALL away. Yeah, it's that good, in my not so humble opinion...........

Sadly, I had to save enough for Boyfriend as this bottle was our bottle to share. But I do have to admit, I saved only about 20% of the bottle as we were all fighting to get as much of this wine as we could. Poor Boyfriend.

I met Boyfriend at my local favorite wine bar for bubbles, and we hung out with our best buddies for a while. I had the Herman Story Grenache in my bag and kept telling folks about how amazing it was.

Now Mr. Robbie from behind the bar and I were talking about the Villa Creek Grenache and since 15C had it on their menu, I had to have a taste of it. Now it is quite good, but I told Robbie it wasn't quite as good as the Herman Story Grenache. "And by the way, I have it right here. Do you want to try it?" Robbie said - "Hell yes!" and pulled out as glass immediately.

Robbie took a drink, closed his eyes and took it all in. "OMG - this is AMAZING." He also said this wine would be even better in a few years, but totally loved it now. My other dear friends, Stew & Michelle, tried it and were in awe. Stew kept thanking me for bringing the wine in and letting them try it.

Boyfriend got a few sips, but that was it. I have a feeling we'll have to get back to Herman Story to get another bottle for just the two of us. Vailia said that only have one pallet left of the "On the Road" Grenache & the "Nuts & Bolts" Syrah so if you want to try them, get over there asap!

So yes, I took the "On the Road" Grenache One the Road yesterday so that many folks could try this amazing wine. I'm thinking to do a mini-movie on it all - Sarah taking the "On the Road' Grenache all over the country to show people what good wine tastes like. I could maybe make a short documentary about it and submit it to Sundance. Are you all on board? Funding, anyone?

In the meantime, you'll probably find me on the side of the road, drinking my "On the Road" Grenache, mumbling about how fabulous Herman Story Wines are......

Yeah, not many wineries get a second blog post right after one another. You really, truly may want to check out Herman Story Wines.

Love to Russell & Vailia!

(Wish I had more photos but it was a spontaneous day of friends, love and sharing fabulous wine with those you respect. And now, hopefully they respect me a bit more because of my fabulous taste with Herman Story wines - tee hee!!)

No comments:

Post a Comment