Tasting- Zeppoli's (West Coast Wine Showcase)

Zeppoli's Italian Restaurant & Wine Shop puts on a wine dinner every other Sunday.  Located right off University Blvd. in Blacksburg, this restaurant offers a wide variety of wines and high quality (in my opinion) Italian food.  This week's focus was on wines from the west coast of the US, featuring wines from Oregon and California.

A nice little shop, hidden away behind a larger complex is Zeppoli's.  I have been here before on a couple of dates with my girlfriend and have yet to be disappointed.  This opportunity at a wine dinner offered an experience that I have not had yet, as wines were included in the price of $15.

This photo shows the layout of all the options we had for pairings of food, as well as the plate that I created.  There was cheddar, swiss, white cheddar with horseradish and chives, and colby jack cheeses, white and wheat crackers, Italian and olive bread, teriyaki chicken and rice with mixed vegetables, mannicoti, mini BBQ buns, flat-bread made with roasted garlic, spinach, roasted red peppers, and Gorgonzola cheese, and then pizza bread.  This variety allows for everyone to have a somewhat different experience as you can choose to just eat and sip wines along the way, or to pick and choose what goes with what.  I did the latter option, following the tasting guide when possible, and mostly sticking to red sauces for the red wine.

 This picture shows all the wines that we had the pleasure of tasting that night.  I will be sure to go through each of them, giving initial reactions to the nose and taste, then the taste after I ate something.  Overall the selection was heavily weighted towards the California wines, but also had some Oregon wines thrown in.

We started with a 2011 Firesteed Pinot Gris from Oregon.  Having 12.6% alcohol, this wine brought a strong mango aroma.  The original tasting brought a strong citrusy melon flavor that I quite enjoyed.  I started off light by eating some crackers.  They really only intensified the flavors that I experienced the first time around which is expected as crackers are pretty bland with salt.  JP really enjoyed this wine and said later it was his favorite of the night.

From here we moved on to a 2009 Lamplighter Chardonnay from California.  Boasting 13.5% alcohol, this wine brought an almost tropical punch nose.  The initial tasting had somewhat of smooth oaky vanilla flavor.  After trying out the teriyaki chicken (which was amazing), the wine was a lot more citrusy and almost sour.

Next we had a 2011 White Knight Viognier from Clarksburg, California.  This wine had a very  light fruity aroma to start us off.  The first taste brought a high peach, green apple tart finish that stuck around.  Trying a few of the cheeses with the wine brought a more blended flavor as nothing really stood out, but the tartness still remained. 

We then tried the 2011 Beringer Chenin Blanc from California.  With 11% alcohol, this wine had a very light sweet floral aroma.  The taste brought a crisp citrus flavor with a very spicy finish.  I tried this with the BBQ bun, which brought a sour taste on the palate and stronger spice on the tongue.  This was one of my favorites for the night.  The picture of John is meant to signify his liking of the wine as well.

We continued by jumping into the red wines.  We started these off with a 2011 Simple Life Pinot Noir from California.  With a mixture of the Pinot Noir, Barbera, Grenache, Tempranillo, and Merlot grapes, this wine had a dark berry and sweet apple nose.  The taste was very acidic raspberry with a nice toffee finish.  I ate some of the mannicoti,  which curbed the acid down greatly and made it much more pleasant, almost a sweet flavor. 

From here we got to try the 2011 Riven Rock Cabernet Sauvignon from California.  This wine is a house wine of Zeppoli's and the owner seemed to be quite proud of it while our host was not as impressed.  It had a very generic grapey aroma, taht had nothing outstanding about it.  The taste was also very grapey with nothing more coming out.  Trying it with the pizza bread made the grape flavor come out more, the wine became sticky, and the finish stuck around much longer.  Not really thrilled about the wine.

Next was the 2008 Renwood Syrah from the Sierra Foothills in California.  This wine had a jammy aroma with nothing else of significance.  The taste was fruity, almost sour with a slight oak and a spicy finish that stuck around.  Again with the manicotti, the sour was subdued, the oak was intensified, and shortened the finish.  Not bad at all for a red (I'm more of white wine guy right now).

                                           View of the area of the tasting and their area for storing

Continuing on with the 2010 Cypress Vineyards Merlot from the Central Coast of California.  Having 13.5% alcohol and made from 80% Merlot, 16% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Petit Syrah.  This wine really only smelled hot, very alcoholic and it burned the nostrils.  The taste was still strong in the alcohol, with a spicy cherry and oak flavorings to tag along.  With the flat-bread I got more of the frutiness, but blended them together.

Finally (or so we thought) was the 2010 Trentadue 'Old Patch Red' from Lot #34 in California.  Being made up of 41% Zinfandel, 25% Syrah, 24% Carignane, and 10% Petit Syrah, I got a dark berry jammy aroma with almost a dark cherry tint.  The taste was that of spicy cherry again, with a long smooth fruity finish.  Trying this with the pizza bread brought out more of the spice and had that dark berry flavoring.

Finally (for real this time), the host surprised us with a 2006 Roadhouse Russian River Valley Zinfandel from his own personal collection.  This wine had a light peppery aroma with nothing else specific coming out.  The taste was that of a dark berry that was almost sour and a spicy finish.  I had finished my plate by this point and had no more food to try with it.

Overall I really enjoyed this experience.  I got to try a good deal of different wines from the West Coast and see what effect food had on them.  I have only had a little experience with food and wine so this was new for me.  My favorites for the night were the Beringer Chenin Blanc and the Simple Life Pinot Noir.  Something from both categories, I was pleased.  Everyone else at the table seemed to get a lot out of it and we really enjoyed the time we spent together. It also left me with a craving more teriyaki chicken....that might be on the menu soon!