Evite and I agree

Evite has a nifty drink calculator. You enter the party duration (4 hours), Guest Count of number of light (20) Avergage (60) and Heavy (40) drinkers that will attend. You put in if you’re serving wine, beer, or liquor (or any combination) and viola- you have what you should buy. We used said calculator for the Mr. and Mrs. Lush Reception, imputing the above numbers, overestimating a smidge because I’d rather have things left over than run out. Results were: 217Bottle(s)/Can(s) of Beer, 44Bottle(s) of Wine and 11Bottle(s) of Liquor (1 liter). We purchased about that much, but ended up with an abundance of alcohol leftover. Realistically, we went through less than 150 bottles of beer, 22-25 bottles of wine, and 7 bottles of liquor for about 95 adults and 15 kids. Astonishing how far off it was. I mean, really, I figured it would be right about on if I added a few more light drinkers and moved some avg drinkers to heavy drinkers, thinking evite wouldn't really know what a heavy drinker is. But no, I guess if you say heavy drinker, evite really thinks you’re a boozehound- we overpurchased by at least 40%.

However, when putting in what I would actually consider to be a heavy drinker, (ie someone who consumes over a bottle of wine by themselves, or 10+ mixed drinks) I changed it to 25 heavy, 50 avg, and 25 light. It came up with the following results: 167Bottle(s)/Can(s) of Beer, 34Bottle(s) of Wine and 9 Bottle(s) of Liquor (1 liter). Much much closer to actual numbers used. Hmm. Who knew-evite and I agree on what a heavy drinker is!!!

Although, worse things could happen-now we’re forced to have a party.

Wedding Wine Tasting Part Sechs (six) - FINAL

We put the Hayman & Hill Pinot Noir against:

Niebaum Coppola Pinot Noir: Absolutely no nose. Really. Less scent than water. However, it does have a taste. Somewhat earthy, fairly light, not much finish. For people who get turned off by pinot “funk”, I’d recommend it. But, it wasn’t the favorite.

Marquee GSM: Still jammy. Actually has a cranberry juice kind of finish. We considered it for people who don’t like the oak and tannins in most reds, but in the end we chose……

Chateau Ste. Michelle Ophelin: Just good. A little fruity, little chocolate. Not too strong of tannins, just a little. In fact, in comparison to the other two, it had the most tannic presence, but I know if we drank it with the Kenwood it wouldn’t even come close.

So, yes, that means we are done with the wedding wine tasting. YEAHHHHHHH!!!!! (Unless we decide to serve sparkling…which we probably won’t.)

Final wedding wine selections are: Pine Ridge Viogner/Chenin Blanc, Kenwood Sonoma Merlot, and the Chateau Ste. Michelle Orphelin.

Wedding wine tasting part πέντε (Five in Greek)

We better hurry up and pick a wine, I'm running out of languages.

I forgot to update with the latest wedding wine posting:

We put the Pine Ridge and the Evolution against:

Arlie 7- blend of 7 grapes: Muller Thurgau, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot gris, and Muscat Ottonel. It was good, a bit sweet for what we’re looking for though. (It’s a smidge sweeter than the Evolution) Fun label though.

Cline Viogner-recommended by someone at the Wine Chateau. While we both liked it a lot, we liked it because it tasted like Chardonnay with a bit of butter. (but no oak.) So, its out as a wedding wine contender because we don’t want a Chardonnay-like wine.

We decided on the Pine Ridge. Two wines down, one more to go. The final red tasting is going to be a tough, because there’s two I really like.

Wedding Wine Tasting Part Quattro

Attention folks, we have a winner. Well, one wine out the three is picked out.

We testing the reining champion 2005 Cellar No 8 against:

2004 Kenwood Merlot. Normally around 15-18, on closeout sale for 9.88 with an additional 10% discount. Nice. Although I do like the Cellar No 8, it takes a bit to open up and this one is pretty much ready to drink right after opening. Not all too complex-easy drinking red, what most expect from a Merlot.

2004 Niebaum Coppola Merlot. Its also pretty good, although a bit oakey in comparison to the other two. It reminded me of chewy blackberries. I liked it and thought it would be good with food, but we liked the Kenwood Merlot the best. We want something that’s good with and without food, since there will only be light appetizers.

Whew! One wine down, two more to go.

Wedding Wine Tasting Part… Tres?

I might as well mix up languages, huh?
I’ll tell you what, I don’t want to ever pick a wine for the wedding. I am really enjoying this “research”! The other night we had 3 wines, 2 of which were new, up against the “defending white champ”, the Pine Ridge. The challengers were….

Evesham Wood Blanc du Puits Sec: 15% Pinot Gris and 15% Gewurztraminer, the winery is in Salem Oregon. Its pretty good, really light, and pretty similar to the Pine Ridge, just a little lighter, with just a smidge more crispness.

Sokol Blosser Evolution- basically a mixed bag of grapes with no specific breakdown. Its good- reminds me a fuzzy peach- easy in the mouth, just a smidge sweet, but I wouldn’t even come close to calling it a sweet wine.

Terry’s a bit more of a fan than I am of the Evolution. Its good, but I like the slight crispiness of the Pine Ridge. So now we have a tie. What to do, what to do….I guess we’ll keep drinking and find something soon!!

Wedding Wine Tasting Part Duex

Last night we tasted two contenders for the Wedding White Wine selection. As a recap, we’re looking for
-Two reds and one white.
-$10-ish bottles
-Something that will be generally likable to both those who have good taste and are novel wine drinkers.

Now, we love Chardonnay, however realizing not everyone does, we decided on a Viogner blend. Something somewhat fruity, but not too sweet, not to dry…and that we like as well. The contenders were:

2005 Shoofly Buzz Cut (blend of Verdelho, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon) Its pretty good. Just a little acid and crispness, that we felt might be too much for some.

2006 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Vionger blend. We liked it. Its currently the top contender. Peachy, fruity, medium bodied, but not too sweet. We figure if you want something of more substance, you’ll probably like red wines as well and there will be two to choose from.

We drank all of them with no food at all because we figure the variety of food will just be too much to pair with so we need something that’s good by itself. Then….we decided lets open a 3rd bottle. We had a bottle of Beringer Chenin Blanc in the fridge that I purchased on sale from Schnucks for $4.88 (normally $8-9 I think) and that’s what we decided on. Well, during the opening process the top of the bottle busted. (see picture) Glass went in the bottle, on the floor, everywhere. That should’ve been a clue that we needed to not have a 3rd bottle. (just in case you missed it, its just the two of us) But no, we decided to overcome the obstacles presented before us and strain the wine into our glasses with a metal strainer. (while taking care not to disturb the pieces at the bottom of the bottle) All was fine, no glass shards ended up in our glass and are currently still in the bottom of the bottle. But this morning, when we had to get up to go to my mom’s, a mere 6 hours after we went to bed, we realized that it was a sign from the Hangover Gods to avoid that 3rd bottle, which we scoffed at and felt the pain this morning. Not too bad, but the pre-noon water theme park trip was hard. Sun is hard to avoid outside.

Wedding Wine Tasting Part 1

Since we will be fortunate enough to be able to bring our own alcohol to the reception, we feel obligated that the wine should be good. Or at least good in comparison. Here's the plan:
-Two reds and one white.
-$10-ish bottles
-Something that will be generally likable to both those who have good taste and are novel wine drinkers.

Tentatively have decided on a merlot (cheap cabs are just too harsh) and a pinot or other medium bodied wine. Top contender for the medium bodied is the Hayman & Hill Pinot Noir. So, a few days ago we had Wedding Wine Tasting Part 1- reds. We tried:

Ravenswood Merlot-actually pretty good. Easy to drink straight out of the bottle, a little bit of complexity.

Concannon Merlot-now we really like this chardonnay (its buttery) and we had the pinot not too long and it was also pretty decent. The merlot…well, not to much. Not horrible, but not good enough compared to the other two.

Marquee GSM-very jammy. Good, might be a contender instead of the Hayman & Hill Pinot but not different enough to be a separate choice from the pinot.

Big 8 Cellars Merlot-right out of the bottle its pretty harsh. Tastes like a young cheap red. But, give it just10 minutes in the bottle (not even in a decanter) and it opens up really nicely into a slightly tannic, but well rounded merlot. Top contender, because of the mystery of the wine-no one will have heard of it plus it’s a bit fuller bodied than the Ravenswood and thus would be a good choice for those who want a big red.

We’ll probably try a few more, and we’ll also try some whites. The whites in mind are the Shoofly Buzz Cut and Pine Ridge Viogner/Chenin Blanc. Stay tuned.