Blending at McNab Ridge 2011

Oct 2, 2011 by Diane Davis

Here’s the deal.  McNab Ridge Winery has a dynamo Tasting Room Manager and because of her, they have a consistent, high quality events calendar.  Attending a McNab Ridge event is a guarantee of a great time with a lot of great people.  One of the big announcements of the day was that John Parducci is being inducted into the Vintners’ Hall of Fame.  Congratulations to John and all of the Parducci family.

This Saturday, October 1, was the annual wine blending party.   McNab Ridge Winery provided 4 Zins, a “port” varietal, a pinotage, and a petite sirah for the 13 teams of (on average) 6-7 people per team.   The participants ranged from professionals to newbies and all levels in between.  The competition was serious as people measured, tasted, tasted and measured until they came up with what they considered their winning blends.

When all was said and done, this was the winning team, Congratulations.  Their blend will become the 2011 McNab Ridge Cuvee and they will be listed as the winemakers.

The there were more contest, including a “guess the varietal” that proved a challenge.  Then a beautiful lunch was served followed by a raffle and a “guess the music” 60′s edition.  It was a great time.  Thanks goes to Denise and her team, Barbara, Rich, Bill, and Reed.

 

The panel of judges.

 

 

 

 

Since this is a working winery, they were filtering the wine during the event.  And the new tasting room, along with the history of the building, fascinating! 

 

 

 

 

As always, there are way more images that will fit in a post- so here’s the slideshow.