Aragon’s monthly “Cru” tasting, 20 Oct

Why are wine tastings fun? Sounds like a silly question, but for me you get to taste stuff that you would probably never get to on your own, and the other folks at the tasting are fun people. Win win for me. So if your schedule doesn’t let you get to the regular tastings around town, try to do one of the monthly tastings, something I have said before, because they are worth it!Aragon has a tasting every Thursday. Five wines to taste for free. Yet on the third Thursday of the month they do a special tasting, a “Cru” tasting. It is $10 but there are 7-8 wines and the wines are of a next higher up quality. There are also some snacks too. So the Cru tasting is a great opportunity to try some of Aragon’s truly different, and unique selections. This Cru tasting gave us something rare, two Red wines tied for the Wine of Note. And the only reason that there were not three is because Daou “Pessimist” 2020 Red Blend was a previous WoN. All the tasters loved all three (tied as a Crowd Favorite), and all three were unique and very good! The two tied for WoN for this evening were Barton & Guestier French Bordeaux 2019, and Emporium Appassimento Rosso 2020 Italian blend. Two very different wines. The Bordeaux was an entry level to that complicated region but would be an outstanding wine to serve with a charcuterie board. Just enough fruit with just enough earthy bite to go with anything on that board! The Italian Appassimento, from the deep southern “heel” of the country is made by letting the grapes dry a little on the vine. Call it a quasi raisin, they are then picked and made into wine. Drink this with any pizza (pizza and wine have a special place in the universe) for a deeper pairing experience. Hope to see you at the next tasting.