Friday, June 25, 2010

Showdown: California vs Argentina


This month we kinda borrowed an idea from The Second Glass and did our own "Wine Showdown" pitting California versus Argentina in a Battle Royale.  We came, we drank, we judged, we drank, we drank some more, and more, and.....

....and it was awesome!

THE WHITES:

Round 1: Crios Torrantes (Arg) v. Dancing Bull Savignon Blanc (Cali)

Winner: Not a terribly close race, Argentina won 4-2

Round 2: Murphy-Goode Savignon Blanc (Cali) v Byron Chardonnay (Cali)
Unfortunately this is the only place where we didn't have an Argentinian wine to compete with the Californian... so we just compared the two anyway.

Winner: Not surprisingly, but California won :)  Specifically, the Byron Chardonnay!  See, Chard doesn't have to be feared.


THE REDS

Round 3: Llama Malbec (Arg) v Five Rivers Merlot (Cali)
Winner:  Argentina won with a score of 5-3.  Everyone just loves a Malbec.

Round 4: Domaine Jean Bousquet Cabernet Savignon (Arg) v 90+ Merlot (Cali)
Winner: In a similar battle, Argentina pulled through here with a score of 5-3

Hmm... This is a tough call to make, I'll have to think on it.  Should I include the food pairings in the decision?

THE FOOD

California-inspired salad of arugula, beets, walnuts, avocado & goat cheese in frico (Parmesan cheese cups), for recipe click here:

Hummus and chips
Antipasti (peppers, marinated artichokes, olives, etc)
Broccoli & Cheese bites
Asian Veggie Dumplings
Fruit (pineapple, strawberries, melon, etc)
Bread
Cheese (Queso Fresco, Manchego, and 2 others that I can't remember the names of....)

And for dessert, adorable little cupcakes:

All in all, it was a great night and I can say that after some deliberation, I'm ready to declare a winner:
ARGENTINA

Happy drinking!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

CRIOS is one of my top 5 favorites