LiveBlog: Cincinnati Int’l Wine Fest 2009

Welcome to our live blog! We'll be using technology to its fullest today. Kevin will be tweeting to this page, and I'll be mobile blogging. This is a grand experiment and, well, live blogging a wine festival does have the potential to go horribly wrong.

Starting between 1 and 1:30 EST today, we'll be at the trade tasting portion of the Cincinnati Int'l Wine Festival. We'll be returning to the Special Tasting Room around 5:30 pm. From between 3 pm and 5:30, I'll put the live blog below on Standby.

Our rating scale has been converted from pretty happy faces to ASCII, assuming we remember to use it, is:

:>

:<

Silly, but useful. We'll turn these live tweets and mobile blogs into our personal wine notes later. And you can refer to them as you plan our your evening at the wine festival. Even when we're not liveblogging, the technology (CoverItLive) allows you to go back and replay the event from this page pretty much whenever you want (which is also helpful if you're viewing from an RSS feed).

Please remember, Kevin & I will both have our mobile phones. For both of us (but especially me), spelling is occasionally iffy on these things. Personally, I have a heckuva time typing on my iPhone, so have patience and try not to edit us.

Cincinnati Int'l Wine Fest Live Blog Experiment

(03/13/2009)

  

Close

1:22	kevingerl:  Meeker chard 17 percent malo

1:22	michelle:  And we're off! 2005 meeker lifes a beAch chard.

1:24	michelle:  Meeker pink elephant rose – dry, yummy

1:26	michelle:  Pine ridge 2007 chenin blanc viognier

1:27	michelle:  Pine ridge chard – too oaky for me

1:28	kevingerl:  Pine ridge dijon clones chard has solid oakiness and good round flavors

1:31	michelle:  Pine ridge fortis

1:34	michelle:  We gave barefoot pg a gold medal. Huh.

1:39	kevingerl:  Obrien chard has spicy finish and strong mid palate. French oak for 10 months adds a nice balance.

1:39	kevingerl:  Firelands riesling has nice granny smith baked in

1:42	michelle:  Montes alpha Pinot.Noir. South American. V. Good

1:42	kevingerl:  Fireland 06 riesling – go ohio

1:46	michelle:  Obrien chard. Excellent.

1:51	kevingerl:  Firelands ice wine was flown out again in about 10 plane loads in december.

1:51	kevingerl:  Firelands also has goretti imported from the umbria region of italy :V

1:52	kevingerl:  Del rio pinot gris good fruit and tart characteristics. very good example of pg.

1:53	michelle:  Willing to admit it. Burnett ridge makes some good wines. Particularly enjoy 3 kings cab.

1:54	michelle:  Helix pomatoa. : >

1:56	kevingerl:  Voig from del rio has more fruit loops than skittles. Warml for oregan but cool compared to rest another

2:00	kevingerl:  Del rio chard also has good balance in flavor.

2:05	kevingerl:  Winemaker white from maryhill. Hite blend. Sweet nose and spicy finish lends to a very nice blend. Would pair with spicy food.

2:06	kevingerl:  :V on the last one

2:08	kevingerl:  Sauv blanc has sweeter mango flavors. more rs than usual in a sauv. :V not dry or grassy

2:11	michelle:  My phone rebooted! I hate my iPhone!

2:12	kevingerl:  10 percent semillion in sauv blanc from robert hall. Grapefruit flavor comes through on finish and is a nice representation. :V

2:13	michelle:  Del rio vineyard one of my faves. Loved viognier. V. Fruit loopy. Also enjoyed the rose, which tasted almost like a sparkling. Yum. Both get a from me.

2:13	kevingerl:  Very different than last example and shows flexability of grape.

2:14	kevingerl:  Sip certified in 2008 for entire winery. Sip deals with more than grape growing.

2:15	michelle:  Finding it difficult to walk be type. Am obv old.

2:16	kevingerl:  07 Viogmier has dry oily characteristics.

2:18	kevingerl:  08 chard has good fruit showing. No new oak at all and barrell malo fermentation.

2:19	michelle:  Just realized that merryvale isn't here. No Antigua for me.

2:20	kevingerl:  08 orange muscat has low acid and good finish :V

2:27	kevingerl:  Row 11 civello :l mostly verdelho. Are better known for their pinot selection.

2:30	kevingerl:  Black box whites (pinot gris and chard) are both heavily oaked. Very little fruit comes through.

2:42	kevingerl:  07 dry chenin from dry creek vineyards. Citris and melon but very dry. always a favorite of mine and great for easter

2:47	kevingerl:  07 fume blanc heavy pepper flavor but unoaked sauv blanc. Might be phased out as a fume in a few years.

2:49	kevingerl:  two oceans sauv blanc :l dry style.

2:52	kevingerl:  The spanish quarter 08 chard albarino blend. Nice porch wine for suumer. should be great in a crowded festival tonight

2:54	kevingerl:  Artes reserve chard has nice french oak. Not my favorite style of chard, but this one is nice. :V

2:57	kevingerl:  Meranda nixon 08 chard was bottled earlier this week and is another good example of wine fron southern ohio.

2:59	kevingerl:  08 tramenette has nice sweetness and would also be another good porch wine or one to sip with a picnic.

3:00	kevingerl:  :)

3:00	kevingerl:  Time for reds for the last hour.

3:02	michelle:  Meranda Nixon local winery. Loved all 4 of their festival offerings. Recommend visiting them for dinner.

3:02	kevingerl:  miranda nixson cabernet has the sweetness that I find in s ohio reds. not bad, but overall I liked the whites they offered. :l

3:05	kevingerl:  Artesa pinot has nice light flavor for pinot. Little currant and cherry

3:08	kevingerl:  Artesa elements is a blend with both napa and sonoma varietals. :v

3:10	kevingerl:  artesa cab sauv has cherry, spice and a little dirt underneath. Nice balanced with mineral finish.

3:10	kevingerl:  booth 116 is worth the stop

3:15	kevingerl:  Dry creek zin – 12 petite syrah good chalky finish and light peppers. :v

3:20	kevingerl:  Seven daughters blend from cal is niice easy drnking red at booth 67

3:22	kevingerl:  santa margherita Chianti at booth 67 has nice light flavors and ould work with the pasta from kroger

3:26	kevingerl:  Row 11 3 vineyards pinot – a little bacon/earth with be good with mushroom or earthy food.

3:31	kevingerl:  Row 11 russan river 30 year old vine has nice old world style pinot flavor. Nice intensity and flavor carries thru

3:33	kevingerl:  Santa maria valley 14 days on cold soak masuration. Very rich and fruit forward from santa barbra area. best of the 3 but all were good.

3:36	kevingerl:  Obrien merlot 03 is fuller than a lot of merlots I have tried. :v

3:36	kevingerl:  Obrien seduction 05 – bord blend with earth tannins cherry. Great napa flavors in a balanced wine than lingers on the finish.

3:46	kevingerl:  4 vines chard has butteriness but no malo fermentation. Will also show well in the evening sessions.

3:49	kevingerl:  4 vines zin – sweet flavor would pair with food.

3:51	kevingerl:  Maverick vineyard zin – more chocolate and cinnimon flavors.

3:51	kevingerl:  Sofisticate sonoma old vine zin more fruit in comparison but still nice sweetness.

3:56	kevingerl:  4 vines also has 2 zin infused blends where zin replaces the expected main varietal. Both interesting playful wines.

4:01	kevingerl:  Firelands listra has nice tannins at end of tasting

4:05	kevingerl:  Fireland ice wine has sweet peach and expected thickness. Very nice end to the tasting.

6:08	kevingerl:  btw now in private room

6:08	kevingerl:  Newton unfiltered chard has rich full pear and both of us give it

6:11	kevingerl:  Penfolds 707 leather full bodied, very nice. from both

6:19	kevingerl:  Jocelyn lonen and advocate were both full and tannic with the advocate being slightly sweeter. K: S: :V for joceln and advocate

6:23	kevingerl:  lamourette sauertuers in lemon goodness. I think I still really like grape juice and sugar.

7:35	kevingerl:  shel likes penfold bin 28 for earth characteristics and used french oak.

8:17

More from Wine Girl

• Surviving the Cincinnati Int’l Wine Festival, 2009 Edition
• Cincinnati International Wine Festival In Review
• Cincinnati Wine Festival 2008
• 2006 Cincinnati Int’l Wine Festival
• WBC09 – Live Wine Tasting

Wine Girl Recommends

• Cincinnati Magazine’s Top Ten Restaurants (wine me, dine me)
• Reader Question: Where would you go for your last meal in Cincinnati? (wine me, dine me)
• Best of wine me, dine me: Julie’s favorite eats (in Cincinnati) (wine me, dine me)