Jeff’s Corner 

Once again, Howdy!

Last week, I had a really good time tasting and writing about our two brand new dry roses, the Ramato and Rose of Sangiovese. (I especially enjoyed the tasting part.) One very sad thing I forgot to mention, however, is that next year we’ll only produce one of them. Brian, somewhat tongue in cheek, mentioned that the reason was because we only have one empty space in our chillers on the tasting bar.

So, last Saturday night at our annual Wine Club Tank Tasting bash we decided to introduce these two outstanding wines to our attending club members and find out which one they would like to see back next year. Hence, the idea for what Brian coined “The Great Rose-Off” was born.

Kathy and I had the great fortune to be serving these two beauties, and on the table in front of each of us were two large empty jars. In the middle was a large bowl of GCV wine corks. Each guest was allowed to vote for the one they wanted back next year by casting their ballot (one of the corks) into the wines’ respective jar.

Kath wanted to pour the Ramato, so I dutifully took my place behind the Rose of Sangiovese. Well, our guests immediately assumed we were politicking for our respective wines. The wines played their part perfectly by calling one another childish names, telling each other to shut up, and questioning the lineage of their opponent.

Mr. Ramato (wasn’t there a song by that name?) quickly built a large lead, and it appeared we were in for a landslide. I countered by bribing our guests with extra pours, and encouraging my Sangiovese constituents to vote early and vote often.

Corks began jumping into my jar, and by the time the dust cleared and the party closed, it was too close to call just by eyeballing the jars. We had to call in a neutral cork counter because this was the first time in 36 years Kathy and I were distrustful of one another.

Well, as it happens all too often when Kathy and I go cork-to-cork, I (and the Rose of Sangiovese) lost. It was close, however, with 46 corks cast for the Ramato and 40 for the Sangiovese. I was unjustly denied a recount, and Mr. Ramato was crowned the favorite.

We’ll see you next week, Im still pouting…