Wine Tasting: FORK & CORK

This past Saturday, we had the privilege of going downtown, seeing a bunch of my friends, and getting to spend time with my girlfriend, all while drinking copious amounts of wine! I had been to Brew-Do last semester, and expected Fork and Cork to work similarly, but I was happily surprised to find that you didn't need to only pick ten wines to taste, because you could go to as many booths and taste as many wines as you wanted! I tasted more than 70 wines, but only wrote about some of the more interesting ones.

My Girlfriend and I at Fork and Cork

The driest wine I had at Fork and Cork was the Petit Verdot from Lazy Days Winery. It was so dark, tannic, and dry, that I could barely get any kind of fruit components out of it. Would probably be very good if it was aged first, since it was so dark and bold having just been corked.

The smoothest wine I had all day came from Amrhein's Wine Cellars. It was called ruby, a blended wine made from many different white and red grapes. It smelled very much like cocoa beans, and tasted almost like chocolate covered strawberries. And I don't mean it had hints of some smells that might have been chocolate strawberries, I mean that it smelled like i was holding my nose over a chocolate fondue bowl filled with fruit. I don't know how they managed that with just grapes, but it was impressive.

I also got to try pumpkin mead for the first time from Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery. It smelled very much like pumpkin spice, and tasted like pumpkin french toast, since it was fairly sweet.

The sweetest wine of the day was the bosa bag from White Rock Vineyards and Winery. They were wines in a bag, but tasted like fermented citrus juice, somehow in a good way. It almost tasted like a margarita, and could easily see how mixing tequila with it would be really good. It would't be the first time we've tried that, and it would probably be even better in this.

The best white wine of the day was the Squires Blend from Saude Creek Vineyards. It had a watermelon-jolly rancher taste, but wasn't overly sweet. It was acidic, tart, and really smooth.

The best red wine of the day was the Bordeaux blend from Trump Winery. It was dark, tannic, peppery, with lots of dark berry flavor, everything I look for in a red wine. If I had to use one word to describe it, it would be rustic. Would pair really well with pasta sauce.

The most interesting of the day was by far the Devils Kiss from Peaks of Otter. It smelled extremely peppery, but even the nose on it did not give away how hot this wine was. I've had and love almost all sorts of spicy food, from the hottest wings at Bdubs to pepper sauces that catch your mouth on fire, and this wine was far and away hotter than anything I've ever tasted. It took a good ten minutes for the hotness to go away, even after downing a bottle of water. Would definitely recommend.

I paired the Mountain Rose Cabernet Franc with a lamb and steak gyro from The Cellar. Going to their website, it actually says that the Cab Franc pairs well with greek, which is what I chose to pair it with. Its good to know that I can apply what I've learned in class! The tannins from the wine were cut down by the sauce in the gyro, and like almost all red wines, went well the steak and lamb.