From Boca Raton to Washington DC and across the country to Chicago and Los Angeles, wine-loving tweeters raised their glasses and typed their tweets in harmony to celebrate the Top 10 Summer Wines opens in a new tab in last week’s Twitter Tasting opens in a new tab.
We traveled the world to find these top-notch wines at easy-to-swallow prices opens in a new tab and, judging by the 100 or so wine lovers joining in the Twitter Tasting, tweeters were glad we did! The Top 10 Summer Wines traveled from some of the world’s best wine countries including Greece, Argentina, France, Italy, New Zealand and Spain for a collection of wines that are well suited for sipping at the beach or poolside, paired with grilled foods or other summer favorites, and all are less than $20.As the corks popped, the tweet parties began at Whole Foods Market stores across the nation while others hosted their own Twitter Tastings in their homes and backyards. In one short hour, we tasted six of these summer-licious wines and the Twitterdom was buzzing with tweet after tweet sharing comments, photos and kudos for the Top 10 Summer Wines opens in a new tab.
@WineFoodTravel opens in a new tab showed how it was done kicking off the Twitter Tasting with a photo of all six wines, glasses lined up on a patio table outdoors, laptop at the ready. Weighing in early with Elios Mediterranean White opens in a new tab as a favorite and noting the Greek white wine is “very crisp” with hints of pineapples and citrus and “a great nose!” Whole Foods Market Global Cheese Buyer Cathy Strange joined the party at Austin’s landmark store sharing Isigny Ste. Mère Brie, whose mushroom aromas and luscious creaminess perfectly complemented the fresh dry Elios.
Our Twitter tasters could barely contain themselves at the value and irresistible floral notes of the Innovac!ón Torrontés Pinot Grigio opens in a new tab, an Argentina white made with sustainably farmed grapes. The liter-size value bottle gives two extra glasses worth of this summer sipper that one Chicago tweeter dubbed as “refreshingly crisp” and tweeted his surprise “as a great value Argentinian white.” Blogger WineFashionista opens in a new tab noted “lots of beautiful stone fruit and white flowers in the Torrontés” with Winesellers, Ltd opens in a new tab loving our pick and proclaiming it “a patio pounder.”Our first summer red that we tasted was the Perrin Nature Côtes du Rhône opens in a new tab, a gorgeous classic French Rhone made using organic practices that expresses rich, fertile terroir with cherry, blackberry and earthy notes, a hint of black pepper and elegant tannins. Blogger FoodDrinkLove opens in a new tab was “diggin’ the earthy notes of the Perrin and the tart cherry.” Cheese buyer Cathy Strange suggested the French Fourme d’Ambert cheese as a great summer companion to the Perrin as the cheese “brings out the cherry and blackberry fruits” and deems this one a “nice and user friendly wine!”Next stop on the journey for our tweet fleet was Spain as we tasted the Evodia Old Vine Garnacha opens in a new tab. Thanks to 100-year-old vines, this ripe Spanish favorite is a complex, big, round red wine with flavors of strawberry preserves, black raspberry and a hint of violet. San Francisco blogger Lucious Lushes opens in a new tab commented on the “rich, spicy baked cherries and plum tart in the Evodia. Leather, earth, PURE Spain and delicious. Excellent value!” We agree! We bought all we could of this special wine and love the dark fruits, medium to dark color and the finish is classic. Yum!
The summer Italian-French duo of Vitiano Cabernet Sauvignon Sangiovese opens in a new tab, a medium-bodied “Super Tuscan” red from Italy, and the P’tit Basque opens in a new tab, a subtly sweet sheep’s milk cheese from the French Pyrenees, resonated with the tweeting crowd with comments such as “a sharp package” and “we can’t get over the P’tit Basque with the Vitiano.” Big cheers for this summer romance! Deep red in color, the Vitiano has ripe plum and black cherry notes with a balanced acidity. We love to drink the Vitiano with summer favorites such as a burger with Stilton cheese, pasta with a cream or red sauce, and mussels are a must! One of our favorite tweeter comments on this wine described it “like drinking a glass of Tuscan sunshine.” Sì!
To conclude the Twitter Tasting, the Presto Moscato Dolce opens in a new tab, a delicate, summer sparkler from Italy, had the crowd loving the bubbles! A tad sweet, with honeyed peach and apricot flavors, the Presto is priced right at about $11 and is light and refreshing. @WineFoodTravel opens in a new tab raved: “Wow – the moscato delivers! Nice taste with apricot flavors!” Another tweeter pronounced the Presto “perfect! Just the right amount of sweetness. I think I need a case!”We covered a lot of ground – literally from Europe to New Zealand to Argentina – in a short one hour for this Twitter Tasting and the Twitter-verse seemed to enjoy the journey. According to Winesellers, Ltd opens in a new tab, “I've been on a lot of wine tweet-ups and I've got to say…This is the best so far! Everyone here rocks #wfmwine opens in a new tab.”And WineFashionista opens in a new tab gave parting words of advice to us all: “Buy in quantity and save some moolah. Makes good wine sense.” We’ll toast to that! Thanks for all those who joined us and stay tuned for our next Twitter Tasting. Cheers!
