Our next customer submission comes from the ever cheerful and fun-to-chat-with customer Glenn Fund. There are a number of guests we love, a smaller number we geek-out with about wine casually on the phones/email, and then there is the upper tier of genuinely awesome folks, like Glenn, who you can lose track of time chatting with.
Truth be told, he didn’t even know we were accepting for the Take Over series, he just wanted to give a recap of an event he threw recently to us and Cameron. We actually excitedly asked him to send it on over with a pic or two, and kind as he is, he complied.
People in the industry pay exorbitant amounts of money to attend events like these, I won’t spoil the story, but it sounds like these gents pulled it off with more (possibly better) food than some of those events we’ve attended (not at full price! You gotta be kidding!), and at a price anyone could afford. With that, we’ll let Glenn & Co. take it away….
Acton Romeos Wine Tasting and Barbeque
General Overview
We are the Romeos (Retired Old Men Eating Out), a group of friends from the Acton, MA and surrounding area communities. We meet several times a month for breakfast and general discussions. In addition, we plan a variety of field trips and activities.
Due to the overwhelming success of our wine tasting and barbeque last year, we figured it was time to do this fun activity again.
We all decided to chip in $25 for all wine, main courses and miscellaneous food items, spices and utensils. Each person would additionally bring a side dish. The gala was scheduled for Tuesday, August 27th.
The Wine Tasting
We had plans for the group to taste 7 different sparkling, white, rose and red wines. There would be ample cheese, meat, vegetable and bread charcuterie platters to complement all of the wines. Since all wines did not arrive until the event was well underway, we had a contingency to utilize several of the planned wines that were already in house plus several other very reliable standbys that were also safe and sound in the wine refrigerator. We all agreed to taste, describe and rate each wine and then declare two ultimate winners. We would have a sparkling, white and rose category and a red category.
The Sparkling, White and Rose Wines:
- Cameron Hughes, Lot 624 Moscato d’Asti, Piedmont, Italy
- Baily Wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Temecula Valley, CA
- Baily Wines, Rosé of Sangiovese, Temecula Valley, CA
The category winner: Cameron Hughes Lot 624, Moscato d’Asti (semi-sparkling)
The Red Wines:
- Benanti, Etna Rosso, Mount Etna, Italy
- Xavier, Côtes du Rhône, France
- Cameron Hughes, Lot 671 Meritage, Napa Valley, CA
- Château Dauzac, Aurore de Dauzac, Margaux, France
The category winner: Cameron Hughes Lot 671, Meritage, also rated wine of the evening!
The Barbeque
The feast that followed the wine tasting included flank steak with bourbon marinade and chicken thighs with zaatar rub. Of course, we had plenty of sides and desserts that included garden salad, potato salad, eggplant, corn on the cob, fruit, mandelbrot and cherry cheesecake tarts. Of course, since Lot 671 won the tasting, another bottle was donated to complement the meal. Quite a spread. No one went home hungry.
Postscript
It turns out that meticulous planning, along with taking advantage of all special deals, allowed us to provide the entire wine tasting and barbeque experience for just $23 (plus the side dish that each person brought with them) for each of us in attendance. A fresh $2 bill went back to each participant.
Quite a deal, indeed! The Romeos followed up the evening with an order of 2 mixed cases of Cameron Hughes wines. You can never get too much of a good thing!
Want to plan your own wine tasting and barbeque event? Please contact me for helpful advice and assistance.
Cheers!
Glenn Fund – gfund@comcast.net