WINE-TASTING PARTY FAMILY SYTLE

Tuesday, August 21 – We would first like to send a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to our daughter, Carrie. She is in Baton Rouge finishing up her LAST week on the road. After 2+ years of traveling for Exxon, she will be back in Houston with a new position, Refinery Earnings Analyst, Baytown Refinery. What that title means, we have no idea. She is a chemical engineer working her way up the corporate ladder. Happy Birthday and Good Luck in your new position.

Now on to some WINE TASTING. During our Pacific Northwest tour this past spring and summer, Marsha got the bright idea to purchase different wines from the different states and throw a wine-tasting party when we returned to Ohio. This past Saturday was the big day. We purchased wine in California, Oregon, Washington, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Now there are tons of websites entitled, "How to Host a Wine-Tasting Party," but Marsha, Carrie and Kelly had their own idea of how they would host this party.

Since we don't have the space for this event, Marsha asked her brother, Rick, if they could have it at his house. Next, everyone that was invited was also asked to bring a bottle of their favorite wine.  "With 12 bottles of wine already, why would they need more?" Paul thought but was smart enough not to ask out loud. He still doesn't know the answer.

Moving along, each person brought an appetizer to share. Now there was some good eat in's on that table. Everything from crab cakes to water chestnut bacon wraps to stuffed mushrooms to meatballs. We ate good!

The girls, (Marsha, Kelly, Carrie) placed the wines with the state sign around the table.

The silver driver's mask is the ice bucket.

Each person was given two shot glasses…one for the red wine; one for white. The girls then explained how this wine tasting thing was going to happen.

1. Kelly would open each wine starting with California.



2. Marsha introduced each wine and where it was purchased.

Of course she had to throw in a few personal comments every now and again.

3. Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, then read the label telling what type of wine it was and what was in it, such as peaches, apples, lemons, etc.

He was also in charge of pouring the wine. He wore a little pumpkin pot holder to catch any of the drips.

Dave pouring wine for Rickie.

Kelly making sure she gets her fair share. We have no idea what those beer cans are doing on the table or who they belong to.

4. Before each taste, one person had to make a toast. When it was dad's turn, this is what his toast was, "I am 84 years old, and this is the very first wine-tasting party I have ever been to. I like it."

If you look closely in the picture above, everyone else has a shot glass except for dad. He has a WINE glass. He wanted to be sure he got a good big taste…hehe.

By the way, after all the tasting was completed, there were colored wine glasses in the middle of the table available for bigger tastes. Everyone got to keep the wine glass as a "Thank You" for participating gift. Marsha's idea not Paul's.

5. Once the toast was made and everyone tasted the wine, we had to vote where the wine ranked compared to the other wines. We used a very scientific way of deciding the order…show of hands.

Getting ready to vote. Even Lucky the dog wanted a say in the matter.

Dave brought two Ohio wines that his dad makes. They were delicious.

Dave TRYING to explain what is in his dad's homemade wine.

Now for the winner…drum roll, please…..
#1 was from Washington…TWO VINE. This wine was the cheapest and only had 11 1/2" alcohol.

This is how we ranked them. #1 is to the far left.

South Dakota took three out of the four last place finishes…not so good! Everyone's comment was…We didn't even know South Dakota made wine.

All the food and most of the wine was gone at the end of the night. We had a wonderful time tasting all the different wines.

We want to say "Thank You" to all those who left a comment or sent an email wishing us good luck with our new house purchase. We had the insect inspection on Monday…all is great there. If all goes well, we will move in on or before Sept. 21. Shortly after that we will be headed for Georgia to visit Paul's brother.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!