It’s rare that I join a wine club any more. There have been times when my husband and I belonged to six, seven, eight clubs. That’s way too many. It gets expensive and you lose the special anticipation of a fabulous box of wine showing up on your doorstep. The boxes blend together in a blur of cardboard… and that’s sad.
Wine should be an event.
While we live in and love the Livermore Valley wine-making region, many years ago we became Paso Robles fans. This was primarily because our favorite wine-maker, Tom Lane now of Bianchi Winery, relocated there. We kind of stalked him. Luckily it all worked out, no charges were filed. In all seriousness though, the only two wine clubs we belong to these days are Bianchi Winery and Dark Star Cellars. Both are yummy and we are always excited when a box shows up.
That said, we have joined a third club– and I am just a bit tickled about it.
On our last visit to Paso Robles we tasted at Le Vigne Winery. Great wines, really quite delicious. However, they added a lovely twist to the club idea. They send you wine AND cheese pairings. Fun, right? We did a cheese flight while in their tasting room and I had cheeses I have never heard of before. Most educational and this added another dimension to the wines. (After all, wines are meant to be paired.) The club we joined ships three times a year, two wines and two cheeses. They have a variety of options: number of shipments, number of bottles/cheeses, and of color- white or red selections.
Check out their club set-up here.
This is definitely a club to have shipped to a work address, hate to have the driver miss you and leave your goodies sitting in a hot warehouse somewhere. Tragic.
Naturally, I couldn’t leave such a winery without a little something-something to enjoy while waiting for our first shipment to arrive. I chose their 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle retails for $35.00, with my new wine club discount $26.00. I love cabernets, however, sometimes they go too tannic for me. I like structure, but let’s not over do it, right? Balance is very important.
Le Vigne’s 2010 Cabernet has a great mouth feel. Lots of the berry and cherry that you look for in a red, but with smokier, earthy qualities on the finish. It is definitely a wine that makes you want some food to go with it, a grilled steak or marinated portobellos. Something substantial. And something perfect to share with friends.
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller. Check out her contributions to the BBB Blog.