Des Moines Wine and Food Connection

Autumn Reds Tasting Postscript

Casa di Vino's "Autumn Reds" tasting went great Tuesday. Poured one white and five reds. Going by sales, Torres 07 Sangre de Toro (Blood of the Bull), a Spanish  Garnacha/Carinena blend and the Rosenblum Contra Costa Zinfandel 06 were the stars. I made a crock pot of venison & chorizo stew/chili and folks ate it up with the wines. Particularly with the Europeans and more tannic wines a bit of food along side brings out the best in the wine.  

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy, Des Moines Wine and Food Connection 

Industry Tasting No. 4 - Okoboji Wines

Okoboji Wines has an extensive portfolio of small to mid-size wineries from around the world. Many of these wines are only available for tasting at this show so your avid wine and food guy bucks up and works the room hard to bring the best and most interesting wines to Casa di Vino. This tasting is always my most challenging and it always seems to take a toll. I tasted 115 wines at the 2007 Okoboji show and a record (for me) 165 wines in four hours last year. This years grand total came to 145 wines; 7 sparkling, 34 whites, 92 reds, 2 dessert wines & 10 sake. I definately felt ratty this morning.  

Autumn Reds

Tuesday, October 6th from 5-7 PM Casa di Vino pours "Autumn Reds". The weather is cooling off. Time to bust out the big boys and those rustic reds we've been eyeing all summer but didn't really care to drink on a 90 degree day. CDV will sample a happy half dozen that you'll want to drink all winter long.

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy
Des Moines Wine and Food Connection

Industry Tasting No. 3- Johnson Brothers

Johnson Brothers industry tasting was yesterday afternoon(tuesday) at Prarie Meadows Conference Center. Unfortunately so was a Casa di Vino wine tasting. That left me with just over an hour to run around and taste. I tasted 44 wines including; 1 sparkling, 11 whites & 32 reds. Johnson Brothers probably has the largest portfolio in the state but much of the wine is geared towards volume sales and supermarkets. I did finds some interesting wines though including a pinot noir from Oregon's Belle Glos, a top notch (and top $$$) sauvignon blanc from St. Supery (Virtu), and a wonderful German riesling from Dr. Hermann amongst others. These wines should be gracing CDV's shelves over the next few weeks. Stop by and taste what's new and exciting.   

Industry Wine Tasting No. 2 - Glazer Distributing

Glazer Distributing put on their industry tasting Thursday evening at Foxboro Convention Center here in Johnston. It was nice having only to go a half mile from Casa di Vino. I tasted 6 sparkling, 18 whites, 44 red & 2 Scotches. That's correct, Glazer distributes liquor also. The liquor bottles were only suppose to be out to show off but as I was wrapping up my tasting I noticed the fill level was down in a couple of the scotch bottles. SO... I asked for a tipple. Tasted two different bottlings of Glenmorangie. One aged in Sherry casks, one aged in Sauterne barrels. Noticibly different tastes with the Sauterne bottling having a slightly sweet note. Very nice.